Rough With The Smooth

Ft. Aaron Rolph, Matthew Fairbrother, Bine Žalohar

Corsica is notoriously complex and technical making for a pretty undiscovered area for big mountain riding. Aaron Rolph (UK), Bine Žalohar (Slovenia) & Matthew Fairbrother (NZ) went to see what all the fuss was about…

It soon became clear our original plan to ride some of the GR20 was pretty ambitious with tight gaps, huge rocks and it would ultimately be a lot more scrambling and hiking than biking.

Aaron reflects “Finding new locations and trying to ride where people don’t usually take bikes comes with a risk but if you don’t go, you won’t know, so It was clear we’d be doing 14-18 hours everyday, which may well have been doable but to what end?”

Young gun, Matthew Fairbrother pushed on solo to complete the Southern half of the GR20, in a huge endurance feat but not a lot of great riding.

They had however, come to ride bikes so we hatched a new plan, enjoying the dusty trails of Bavella before regrouping and heading north to Corsica’s highest peak - Monte Cinto (2706m). After an epic sleep right under the stars, we set off before sunrise to reach the summit before shredding the technical and steep rocky slopes back down.

We’re not sure Corsica will ever be a major MTB destination, but finishing with a coastal ride and big sea views, the team wouldn’t have wanted to see the island any other way.

Riders: Aaron Rolph, Matthew Fairbrother, Bine Žalohar

Cinematography: Will Brock Video, British Adventure Collective