Ardeche-Cévennes Divide series : light and shadow
The Ardèche is a vast massive not far from the Massif Central, France. Its plateau comprises a lot of dense forests as well as open fields. The weather out there can be unforgiven yet sunny at the same time. Some day we rode with all our layers on, the other it can be bright sunshine and you'd be riding in shorts. Unfortunately, we had the former.
It was not until we crossed the Cévennes by riding over a river called le Chassezac that on this plateau (after the climb) we'd be granted with gorgeous sunshine.
All those gorgeous geographical formations and landscape arrangements as well as the climate offered challenging opportunities to be captured.
It's been several months since we've come back from the Ardèche-Cévennes and I was thinking about what to do with my pictures other than publishing them on my highlighted stories.
Therefore, here you go ! A series taken during a recent bikepacking trip. First theme : light and shadows
#bikepacking #bike #mtb
@bigvils_ mentioned he would recon the 🇱🇺 part of @acrossthebikepacking . I couldn't resist to offer him my company. I remembered having done this part in 2024 during the night. It was really nice flowy singletrack in beautiful gorges. It didn't disappoint !
I really loved the route of ACT3, a truly beautiful route that sets a benchmark in downcountry bikepacking. I'd recommend it 100%
Shred-packing in the Vosges
It's been several months since I started riding with @theo_guava a guy full of enthusiasm that loves riding fast and do stupid things with inappropriate bikes.
Recently, he also fell in love with bikepacking. That's why I suggested to him that we should try a route I've been planning for several years in the Vosges. I tried it two years ago but due to really bad weather and fatigue, I had to cut short.
This year we came better prepared. Full suspension bikes, lighter bikes and better legs, although we raced at the 24h of LLN (a 24h bike race in relay). We had two goals ; have fun and do not push ourselves mentally too far to avoid mental fatigue. The route is already hard enough.
The route is designed around downhill singletracks and relatively easy uphills. The advantage of the Vosges is that it is scattered with loads of (natural) singletracks, loads of unguarded refuges and there are easy resupplies which offer the possibility to travel light.
We experienced pretty much epic conditions. We saw snow on the summits the first evening, we had pouring rain the morning after. And the day after there was snow and mist above the 1000m line which we hit occasionally.
Another big advantage is the friendliness and hospitality of the locals. Two times we entered a refuge and were offered food and drinks without hesitation.
With only 5 hours driving time from where I live, the Vosges offer a big playground for the MTB and I can't wait to recon the next parts of the route.
HOPE 1000 4d 08h 14m
A little throwback on the Hope 1000, find the full one on my Strava activities.
It's been more than a year now that Charles told me about the Hope 1000, and that he showed the motivation to participate in it. We started to create a real myth about it, that it'd be a mythical route with loads of mtb sections in it. At that time we were not really focused on the numbers which are quite impressive with their 1000km distance and 30 000m of elevation. We hoped that it'd be a nice and engaged mtb parcours.
In 2025 we decided it would be the time. And so we registered. After a few other races I participated in, I was surprised to read that we had to bring our own tracker and that no media crew would be on the route etc. Quite the original kind of race with roots in the Tour divide. "Hey, I got this route of a 1000km in Switzerland that I made up, wanna ride it ? No faff, just you, your bike and tracker and the mountains" could have said Willi, the organiser.
And so I standed there alongside Charles and Ellena, another rider, with the Bodensee in sight, a belly well full with breakfast from the youthhostel and my tracker blinking. A small chat with Ellena to our first halt 500m further due to a crossing train and we were off with Charles. Although we had not planned to ride it together the first 50k's were flattish, it would have been a shame to not ride it together.
The first hills came in sight and after some time I notified Charles I was getting "in the zone" i.e. pushing my own pace. And so I set off for 940km still to go.
At my surprise the beginning was really rolling, the first 50km were smooth gravel and the early climbs were majorily on asphalt. I became a bit annoyed, I clearly did not come for riding on asphalt.
On the second day, the real fun began with real mountains we had to climb and short sections of alpine mtb to descend. We even had some tricky hike a bike sections that I passed during the night. Nice, I was in the right place.
*next part in the comments*
Pre- HOPE 1000
Tomorrow starts my first (and probably last) bikepacking event of the year, or ultra-endurance bikepacking race/event, whatever you wanna call it. To put it simply, it's a 1000km fixed mtb-route with 30.000m of elevation, starting from Romanshorn and ending in Montreux by the statue of Freddy Mercury.
What I like about this event is that it's free, which compensates for the high prices in Switzerland. Also it's kind of the OG bikepacking event with no media crew, checkpoints and stuff, just me and the trail.
The past two weeks have had a lot of ups and downs with managing @fahrbar.bikeshop , preparing my @merida.bikes after the hours and managing life. Last Saturday I set off for a wedding next to the Mont Ventoux which was the perfect occasion to test the bike, my condition and enjoy with friends. Finished the preparation with prepping the bike for @karl.vd
who also signed up for the event.
Now it's just getting a maximum of sleep before the start at 6:30 in the morning. You can watch the dots, link in bio
It's been nearly a week now since we took the train to Freiburg am Brisgau. With @anoukro we had two weeks to cross the Schwarzwald then take a train to the Constance Lake (also called Bodensee) and take on an ambitious route with several alpine, off-road passes.
Crossing the Schwarzwald went really well. We were greeted with infinite low gradient climbs yet sometimes really steep uphills. We slept at a magnificent Hütte and rode a flowy singletrack the morning after. We finished our first full day at the Schluchsee. On day 3 we finally took our train to the Bodensee. Day 4 meant the start of our ambitious plan. We climbed the whole day, rerouted our plan (already) to skip the summit. We then found a campspot and went to sleep. Day 5 went not as planned, we had to go down the mountain to Mellau and tried an alternative trail (cuz the original one was boring). Although a board explicitly showed that the trail wasn't suited for MTB we still tried. And regret came at the end. I lowered my tire pressure and due to a high drop I unseated my tubeless set up. We managed to get it running again to the nearest shop but when leaving again it didn't hold. A more serious fix proved to be more efficient. Up we went again. We finally found the perfect camp spot in an open field. We bathed in a watertank and when coming back, guardians made clear we cannot camp in Austria...
That being said, we found a more hidden spot in the nearby forest and discussed our plans for the following week. We loved the amazing scenery of the Austrian Alps yet we were a bit disappointed about the MTB possibility. With the ongoing surge of ebikes, Austria has made their mountains accessible for retired people with e-MTB's of a value of 7 to 10k and that only seek to go up and down mountains by flowy and easy trails. Therefore, a lot of potential nice MTB-trails have been shut down. Unfortunately, this is not what we came for. Added to this the lack of campings, our decision was clear; leave Austria for Italian mountains and better, cheaper coffee and food.
Our plan is to try to complete the Trans Dolomiti by @talesontyres found on @bikepackingcom . Let's see how this goes
Throwback to coming back from Morocco last febr and traversing the Sierra de Grazalema. And cheers to my favourite bikepacking partner 😍 Always a pleasure doing stupid things together.
To many more hike a bikes and descents
It's been a couple of days now since I finished the @atlasmountainrace . Some time was needed to reflect on how it happened and what my appreciation was of the race. It started with lots of signs that retained me from taking the start. A broken pedal, a suboptimal position on the bike, a tired bottom bracket, the race delayed/cancelled due to bad weather, and a broken spoke when arriving at the start of the race. Nelson gave us the choice of taking part in the race or not, yet I had no hesitation. The race is why I came for, not starting would have been the worst of all (in my head). So, I started, and it started fast ! After a rerouting on the go (police was blocking the road apparently) I arrived at the top in a relatively good position and winning some places in the descent and the heavy wind that was blowing at Telouet. After a quick tajine I went into the night for a sleepless one. My first sleep was after some 24h of riding. I had my first night at the waterfalls where I stopped for to long (8 hours). Catch up mode was on ! Everything went really great until the last days where my knees and legs decided they had enough. Due to poor hydration and some bad planning on resupplies I was caught in a really low energy mode and felt really dehydrated. I walked uphill and was not able to blast the downhills. Ultimately, I found some energy back for the last 100kms, to finish in a total of 5d 6h and 15mins and with a 34th place overall. Well, not bad for a first race and given the circumstances. Yet, I have made loads of errors prior to the race and I want to learn from them. Despite the bad preparation, I feel that I have done what I could and that I never gave up, because of that, I'm quite happy with my race.
After a heart breaking separation with @anoukro (lol) I cycled Tizi n Test up again. I stopped during the ascent to have a Berber omelette with a local guy. Really friendly guy ! His house was also devastated due to the earthquake, yet it seemed like he was waiting for tourists or friends to pass as in the mean time he was also waiting for time to pass. Well to be honest, it appears to me that all men are waiting for time to pass. As usual, chores are done by the women, and with high unemployment in the countryside, I do often ask myself what the men do apart from drinking tea and chatting... On the way down I met Maxime Barra, solo and single speed bikepacker. He advised me to ride all the way up to Oukameiden, which is the highest ski resort in Morocco (apparently). My initial plan was to cycle the first ascents of the AMR but my timing looked tight so I followed his advice.
After a small rerouting I found the way up to Oukaïmeden which was brutal but also very scenic. Definitely a good test ! It was plotted with hairpins and terraces for the locals to do some agriculture. Yet they all complained about the lack of snow and rain this year. (fast-forward a couple of days and there is loads of rain) Finally, I arrived at the top, had a well-earned tajine for two. I was harassed by three street vendors who wanted to sell me their bracelets. Due to the lack of snow, there was a lack of tourists, hence, life was very difficult for them. It was the second time during the trip I questioned myself about my position as a tourist. It seemed to me that tourism plays a big role in the local economy and that some of the locals are truly dependent on tourists. How does it come we arrived to such kind of a situation? What can I do as a tourist ? Am I really a tourist or am I just a passer-by who wants to enjoy nature and maybe meet local cultures ? My thoughts were quickly put to an end though as I started a 70km descent. Loads of concentration and fun !
The next morning I joined Marrakech to rest.
After having found a new pair of pedals in Rabat and having met up with @anoukro we left the city for the desert ! We started our small bike tour together in Marrakech and cycled all the way to the Agafay desert. Unlike the Sahara desert, Agafay is kind of a stone desert (my geo knowledge stops here though). All I can say is that it is quite something to cycle in a desert. There is not much but stones and it is quite hilly.
As the desert lay in front of the Atlas mountains we decided to cycle the Tizi n Test, a 50-ish long climb. Sadly, the latest earthquake happened in this region, so we saw loads of demolished villages and refugee camps, it gave me some chills and I remembered that time I cycled in the Eifel-area just after the floods. It is something to pass through destructed villages, you feel helpless, yet, for the same price you can stop your tour and help the locals. During our ascent we were hosted by a local guy and therefore slept in a refugee tent, which added something to the experience. The next day we finished the climb and were thanked with a wonderful descent (not as long thankfully). The descent was interrupted with some goats passing by and a quick chat with a Belgian biketourer going up.
Our cycling trip together, sadly, was very short. The next day I would leave for the Tizi n test again. See next post 😉
It's been 5 days since I left the van which has dropped me near Conil, Southern Spain. From there I started cycling to Algeciras (pic 1,2) where I took the ferry to Tanger Med(pic 3).
My plan is to explore the Rif region in North East Morocco. And I can tell you, the region is quite epic !(pic 1-8) Some mesmerizing views on green fertile landscapes where houses, and villages have grown like mushrooms. The roads are in some condition but the elevation is quite something. It never stops going up or down with gradients that go easily above the 10%. Thus, lots of hike-a-bikes are involved. Count also in that maps aren't always accurate and that mule tracks can appear out of nothing. I'm now taking a rest in Chefchaouen before heading out to the mountains again. I will wander some days in the Rif before heading to Rabat. Where I'll pick up a cassette. Then I'll head to the Atlas mountains for a bit of scouting for the @atlasmountainrace in which I'll take part.
I'm riding my Kona Unit with a front suspension, for added comfort. Up to now I'm a bit confused, I found that the steering was less precise. But the added capability of the bike is very welcome. As always, it has been equipped at @fahrbar.bikeshop . The bags are from @moga.bags which has done an incredible job of servicing them after all the mud it has endured, cheers !
I hope I will be able to post more updates later, so stay tuned
#amr2024
#AMR2024CAP148
@konabikes@konabikesbenelux@konabikeseurope
