Welcome to my new web series. This year I'm exploring a new concept. Mixing trails discoveries, meetings, mountain adventures and self-shot productions! It's called "Tito en Vadrouille" with literally means "Tito is drifting". Let's dive into this adventure in France!
From the Alpine to the Costal Range with my friend Greg Germain, across red dirt, grey dirt and wild valleys. All the way to my home trails!While the concept of the web series is to discover new areas, it comes with human dimension and knowledge. Each episode features a local guide to take me on a special ride. It can be a scouting mission, connecting known trails or just showing me around for a few days.
On that trip in the south of France the goal was to open a new road to cross the county from north to south, from the alpine and the Mercantour national parc to the coastal mountains where I grew up. A true symbol of my passion for mountain biking, connecting the dream mountains to the one where I've learned everything. We decided to go light and try our luck for the night, posting our request for lodging on social media the day before we were leaving hoping to find a place to crash.
Time to finish the backpack, setup the bike and charge the drone...
LET'S GO!!
My dad takes us to Valberg on a stormy morning. It's an ugly day of April and it's snowing hard at 150 meters high and we are heading to 1500m for the start! While we leave the coast and enters the mountains, we start to see the sky and we find the sun at the resort! The landscape is unreal with green and gold in the altitude, snow patches here and there and the costal range all white under a glorious sun.
It's freezing cold but we have a lot of climbing to warm ourselves. We make the most of the climb to shoot and enjoy the atmosphere. Starting the downhill with tremendous red dirt trails, it's a pure joy for me to leave the mud and deep forest of Savoy and dive into epic alpine riding in April.
We ride remote trails and shoot, taking our time and exploring new lines. In the meantime, we receive an answer from Richard who's going to welcome us for the night. This guy is a local racer, passionate and fun.
After the red dirt we ride to another valley and shred some grey dirt trails, tight canyons and fun lines. Crossing villages and passes, it lead us to a last epic downhill before meeting Richard's family in Puget Rostang. We have a great moment, sharing memories from the mountain bike community in the Maritime Alps, the local knowledge and a lot more.
One the next day we leave the village with smiles and energy, amped to discover more and ready to push a bit. Actually starting the day we know it's gonna be more than 65 kilometers and 2300 meters of climbing. And with wild valleys to cross and uncertain information on trails, we are expecting the worse!
First part of the day is tough but fun to ride, after stopping to buy some food in the last place we cross a massive pass and dive into Esteron valley, the less know of the county. Following hunters' trail for hours, we finally make it to the isolated villages, making local people surprised to see us popping out of the deepness of the valley with our bikes. Fun times! And we keep on rolling and exploring, crossing, eating, hammering down, and finally back to familiar trails to Le Broc. I know this area so much because I grew up here, riding the Baous (local name for the mountains and area). It's nice there but it's also the most rocky place of the Maritime Alps, awkward and slow.
In Le Broc, we stop for food one last time and start the last section, a remote part with rocky trails but we know the views and downhill will reward us. And they did! This was definitely worth the effort, getting on top of the Baou with stunning views on the Mediterranean sea and French riviera at sunset was the cherry of the trip. We dive into the last trail for some serious shakedown and fun section. Finishing there gets me emotional, because we shared a beautiful short adventure and I get to film my home trails, and eventually show it to the world.
We arrive at my dad's and Greg's van is there. Sharing the memories with dad, we realize and reflect on that sweet ride. It was fun to be guided here, play the "tourist", shoot everything, show the beauty of my home trails and finally share it to the world. So I really you enjoyed that episode and our mission. Also getting more behind the lens is fun, I can express myself and realize some project I cannot easily do with a filmmaker. Wishing to bring a lot of good vibes along the year, I've got some fun destinations to show up! Let me know in the comment what do you think and your suggestions for more destinations!!
Thanks for your support and interest, thanks a lot to my guide Greg Germain from 1001SENTIERS.FR and thank you to my sponsors:
@urgebikeproducts @RockyMountainBicycles @raceface , GORE WEAR,
@MarzocchiMTB @CamelBak @hutchinsontires @shimano BEEA energy, Julbo and Effetto Mariposa.