FRENCH DIVIDE 2021
The French Divide is a 2267 km long ultra bikepacking race from Flanders (French-Belgian border) to the Basque Country (French-Spanish border), via the famous route of Santiago de Compostela. This incredible adventure will take us to the most beautiful gravel and mountain bike trails in France.
2275 km bikepacking from Flanders to Basque Country
(Dunkerque-Mendionde) - FRANCE
Route & Profile
The French Divide is a 2275 km long ultra bikepacking event from Flanders (French-Belgian border) to the Basque Country (French-Spanish border), via the famous route of Santiago de Compostela. This incredible adventure takes the wild bunch of bikepackers to the most beautiful gravel and mountain bike trails in France.
The total elevation gain is 32'000 meters wat translates to 105'000 feet. The course is varied but very, very rough, so except you are a superhuman, which helps anyway, a full-suspension MTB is the recommended bike.
The 20 stages have varied distances, climbing, and path condition (80% is trail or offroad)
Preparation first
Mark’s preparations for the FRENCH DIVIDE were not ideal, but to be frank, he was already aware of that when he registered for the event around Christmas.
With the ongoing COVID situation, his advanced studies, and a busy job the omens were more than clear. But he did probably the best out of it, without stressing himself too much, and as he always feels like he wants to do more than he can, so that’s probably ok. With this in mind, he just needs to ride clever and take some time to recover whenever fatigue will hit him. Besides his irregular workouts on the way to work by bike, he has done 4 good test rides with overnight stays.
1. 2-day tour over easter
2. the 24h heart loop challenge > link
3. 2 days at the HOPE 1000 > link
4. 2-day tour in Corsica
With this, Mark was able to collect some 4500km, just about the double amount of kilometers training as the 2275km long race - ain’t that bad ;-).
Day 1 - Finally on the trail!
The starting signal has been given - the race begins. At 6:30, Mark and many others started the French Divide. The next 12 days will be exciting, challenging, and full of unexpected turns.
This first day went well but was full of surprises. While at the beginning the roads and trails were easy to ride and enjoyable, the route soon turned out to be in worse conditions, what actually had to be expected due to the bad weather the past few weeks. There are sections with deep mud and riding can be quite hard or even impossible. After some time Mark did get used to the road and is now riding at the expected pace.
On this first day, Mark had to get used to the french specifics so he had slight issues with the water supply since it was Sunday and stores and most restaurants were closed. The general hack is to go to graveyards since they usually have water access. They doe not always look trustworthy, bu there is a law in France, that any publicly accessible tap that does not dispense drinking water must be labeled with "eau non potable" what translates to "no drinking water".
But after visiting two graveyards and not finding a water tap Mark had to ring at a private house and ask for water, with which he then was successful with at first try.
“Everything you can imagine, you experience here. Rain, wind, forest, meadow, cobblestone and mud. A lot of mud.
”
Day 2 - you better like mud & colorful balloons
Mark met a few other riders during the race and spent yesterday’s night with 3 of the other racers. He got up at 3:30 am to start riding shortly before 4 am. The track becomame more and more off-road and was in muddy conditions what again made riding very difficult. Suddenly there were even fallen trees on the trail from a storm. Nevertheless, he was able to make good progress.
Romain Delacourt, Mark’s positive, energetic travel companion for almost two days
The weather has stabilized, and it is no longer raining, although the wind is quite strong. The temperatures are very pleasant at the moment, it's not hot or cold, actually perfect for riding.
“Overall, it’s back-breaking work, but surprisingly it's going quite well.”
The highlight was the first Checkpoint. The alleys were decorated with colorful balloons, there were beautiful cobblestone streets and very good food.
Day 3 - reset after 5h in the day
Day 3 could actually be divided into two parts, a very bad early bad morning, where just everything seemed to go wrong, and a second part with good progress.
Mark never uses an alarm clock. In race mode and also due to the uncomfortable sleeping mat, he usually wakes up after 3-4 hours of sleep. Most of the time he then decides to get up and start riding to eventually take a power nap sometime during the day, which almost never happens.
Water filled underpass - the only way leads through the bushes and over the railroad tracks
The same happened this morning so he started his day at 3:30 am. Romain, his companion he met over and over again and with whom he spent already the shelter the night before also woke up and promised to catch up, what finally never happened. The first bad sign was the rain that started at 4 am, followed by a horrible stretch of mud holes in a forest and then severe navigation issues in the labyrinth of a wine yard that nearly turned him nuts. Other riders reported similar issues at the same place at daylight, so it is no surprise it was even more challenging in the dark.
So after 5 hours into the day, the reported progress was only 36km - indeed very frustrating. After an extensive visit to a bakery to refuel, Mark decided to push the reset button for this day by even restarting his navigation device. And what surprise, it worked a soon wide, more or less flat farmland appeared on the horizon, that allowed compensating the bad experience of the morning.
On the route, there is a protected forest, which you are not allowed to cross between 9 pm and 6 am, any violation will lead to immediate disqualification. Mark's goal was then to cross this section in time. About 25km before this prohibited zone, Mark reached the house of Stephan (a sports-minded Frenchman). The red, shady shelters and the inscription "FD 2021" were already visible from far away. Stephan provides the riders with all kinds of goodies and important information for the coming leg. Where to still shop and whether there is enough time to cross the exclusion zone.
Thanks to this information and the good progress during the day, Mark finally succeeded with almost 1-hour reserve.
Day 4 - Champagne for Breakfast
After a hot and humid night, during which Mark offered his tired body to the hungry mosquitoes to feed, the famous regions of the Champagne were crossed in the early morning hours. The pictoresque villages and the steep, vine-covered slopes look incredibly beautiful but are also quite strenuous to climb. In the fast descents one has to always watch for unexpected right-turns that Samuel has smuggled into the route. If not, ones has to pay with sweat for the seconds of inattention by again climbing these steep bastards to avoid violating the strict rule book, which can lead to time penalty or even disqualification.
The advantage of starting in the second wave on Sunday and riding at a good pace is, that you are meeting more other riders on the route. After some hours of lonesome riding, it is always nice to meet, as we call each other “Dividers” and having a chat while overtaking or at a bakery while refueling.
The exchange of intense experiences, particular difficult climbs, navigation issues or the upcoming leg and its characteristics are amongst the most common topics of the conversations.
After Romain, who Mark started really missing at this point, Mario, a Belgian rider was a not want to miss encounter.
Pictures are logically taken mostly where it is beautiful, well rideable, and in good mood. However, the frustration in Mark's mind about the many unrideable sections increased with every kilometer. After 4 days of tireless struggle, only 900km were done. The thought that not even half of it was done goes through the riders' minds, especially before reaching the checkpoints. At this point, the plans for the race exit also concretized in Mark's head. After a difficult climb to checkpoint 2, however, the warm welcome from the team and other riders were so great that all the stresses and strains were forgotten.
“We Belgians are just as cool as you Swiss, except we have less money!”
After a fat burger and a few beers, the troop remaining at checkpoint 2 sought out a nearby shelter under which to spend the night. The media team of the French Divide came along to document the preparations of the night camp, there were certainly some great shots. Like exhausted warriors, everyone set up his sleeping place and after a short time, the first snoring sounds were heard. After a short sleep Mark was awakened by another participant "is that your backpack"? he asked. "Yes, why?". A fox came and fled with it, but I was able to catch him and get the prey back from him," was the answer. Immediately Mark stowed the backpack thankfully in the belly area. Shortly thereafter, Mark woke up again and just felt that the backpack was kidnapped again. This time, however, he had to take up the chase himself, which was ultimately successful. Subsequently, the fox returned several times and tried to steal from other tired riders. Finally, Mark decided to get up at 1:30 in the night and continue his journey.
Day 5-6-7 - plan B takes over with A sharp turn left
During the first two hours of this very early 5th day of the race, it was again extremely difficult to make progress, so the exit plans from the previous day came back way before Mark’s expectation. A lot of hike-a-bike and lifting the heavy bike over storm wood, rocks, or pulling it out of the mud. Mark realized, that this was just not fun enough spending his entire holiday on, so he gradually further developed his exit strategy. A quote he often uses helped him create the plan. Stop riding this crap of a route, ride your bike home on a route that's fun.
With that idea in mind, he immediately reached some sort of plateau. It was still pitch black, but in the glow of his headlamp, an exciting stone formation and a statue appeared.
“Adapt what is useful, reject what is useless, and add what is specifically your own”
The mood was somehow mystical and had a totally calming effect on Mark and then, somehow foreshadowed and yet surprising the clarity - that was it. Mark looked at his GPS and pressed not the pause but the stop button. He put his bike against a tree, opened the saddlebag, pulled out the sleeping bag, and lay down contentedly where he fell asleep shortly after.
Just with the sunrise he woke up by the noise of passing riders that no longer were race companions. Eloi alias Walid with whom he already had shared the room in Dunkerque and whom he met countless times in the past days but always lost sight of due to completely different riding style and rest strategy, stopped for a last short chat before ambitiously disappearing into the bushes.
Still, in the sleeping bag, Mark pulled out his mobile and started creating the route back home on Komoot (route planning App). 400km and 3000 meters elevation gain, on a 100% ridable route was the acceptable result.
After a rest day with a few beers at a nearby lake, Mark spent 3 nice days pedaling back home. On this ride and especially during the breaks in beautiful towns or refreshment in the cooling streams, Mark could process this adventure and the nevertheless early termination. It gave him the opportunity to properly reflect on the event.
Reflection
The variety of France and its regions, landscapes, towns is stunning. French people are generally very friendly and supportive, so an event like FRENCH DIVIDE could be an excellent opportunity to discover France and all of this. On the other hand, doing this in a race format does only allows you to scratch on the surface, leaving behind deeper contacts or inspecting the beauty of the details, so why are people participating in this kind of event? It’s not possible to provide a general answer to this question, everyone has his own story and background, nevertheless here are some of Marks’ thoughts.
The race itself the organization only provides the framework to an adventure and experiences, that never could be discovered in normal situations.
Already at the planning stage, then at the arrival and registration, there is a sense of excitement mixed with anticipation and awe.
The connection with other participants is not, as in other sporting events, characterized by competition, but much more from a community of destiny. The unknown that lurks out there hovers a ghost in the mind of the participants until the last button is closed and zipper is shut. The journey to the start resembles the march to the battlefield, where the warriors gather and are ready for anything. While some almost wet their pants with excitement, an almost eerie calm returns to the others. The ultimate salvation seems to be given with the start and the initial aim is to find one’s own rhythm, which can take quite a while. With the approach of the first exhaustion, the pace is found and the second phase can be launched, the energy-saving flow in thinking and acting in all upcoming situations.
Random encounters with passers-by or with other riders take place, which can last a few seconds, minutes, hours, or even days. Since everyone is basically self-sufficient on the trail, it is not allowed to ride in the slipstream, nor to give any other support. The depth of these fleeting or prolonged encounters is very difficult to explain to outsiders. One can imagine similar connections perhaps in exceptional situations e.g. disasters or war.
Depending on the personality, the purely sporting aspect shifts with the increasing length of the event to a wider experience and an encounter that takes place like normal life, but in a different dimension or concentration. A day in the saddle can appear as an entire week in normal life. By reflecting on some of these days it is hard to believe all the things that happened. 100 thousand small hits were hammered over the rear wheel in the backside and thousands and thousands of decisions in which line the millions of stones and holes on the way should be avoided, the number of slimy slugs and frogs rolled over - unbelievable.
On this ride, Mark was asked by a companion why he would even participate in such events. From the way the question was asked, it was obvious that he had been asked the question himself, but could not answer it satisfactorily.
For me personally, he replied, there is a very clear and practical reason. I like to work a lot and let myself be stressed, or at times I get so caught up in what I think is important that I forget what really counts in life. In this state, my emotions are kind of numb, I function very rationally, according to plan, I am able to complete my duty and tasks efficiently and purposefully. Emotionally, however, I am paralyzed. I don't feel much joy, nor do sad events really make me sad. By participating in such events, I consciously push myself to my limits. This opens my heart and brings me to reflection. Never am I as reflective and level-headed as I am after such an experience, never do I love my children, family, and friends as deeply, never do I have such wild dreams, never do I feel such pain, and never do I cry as often as I do after such an effort - I feel alive with all its beauty but also painful facets, that's why I do this, Mark answered.
Ok, sounds reasonable he replied and kept on pedaling.
On his way home, Mark received the following message, which touched him to tears and reflects very well what has been described above.
Hi Mark,
I saw that your tracker deviated from the track to bring you back to yours. I hope everything is going well for you. We had a short but wonderful encounter on this french divide. You are a whole person and I learned a lot on your side. I wish you a very good continuation in your life and in your future journeys. Tell your daughter that she has a great dad but she must already know that!
Thank you thank you thank you…
Open questions
The question remains, where do the surviving riders get the motivation to exploit themselves like this for 10-12 days?
Why is the track made so hard and partly unpleasant that 75% of the riders give up the race?
For whom is this event?
You definitely need the strength of a superhuman and/or a lot of time.
It helps immensely if you like to push your bike and partly carry it.
An ultra-light packed mountain bike with full suspension is absolutely recommended. Some riders are able to do it on rigid gravel bikes or even Singlespeed but … (see point 1)
