My 2nd French Divide

7AM on the third day of the French Divide. I had been riding for already 2 hours that morning. Alone, as I would do most of the time during this event. But then suddenly rider after rider pop up. Magic. On a magical place. A beautiful viewpoint at sunrise which was worth the obliged detour. Encounters like that with other riders are very special and always boost my energy level and mind. Although of course you need to be physically able to complete the 2.270km off-road track with more than 32.000 verticals, in the end, it’s the mind that will be the determining factor. Mental ups and downs, just like the track. A beautiful track from the French-Belgian border town Bray-Dunes all the way to the French-Spanish border in Mendionde. In an unsupported setting: you have to do it all on your own. Ride, eat, sleep – repeat. Trough a varying landscape. The most challenging parts being the most beautiful, like the Morvan and the Auvergne, not to mention the trails of Santiago de Compostella.

It was my second time on the French Divide. My ambition this year was to do it faster and enjoy it more. The outcome: I finished 10 hours faster (and I was the only solo female finisher) and did my very best to enjoy it more. The track was the same, the experience different. It was as hard as the year before, but I tried to reframe when things got difficult. “This too will pass”, a sentence out of a very inspiring book on bikepacking, crossed my mind several times during these two weeks in France. There was the heatwave on the first week. I think I might prefer hot to wet, but still, temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius made the whole thing even more challenging. Finding water was a constant concern for me. Each cemetery I passed I looked for a spigot . Water bottles filled, check! Shirt and cap wet, check! Slow and steady, pedal stroke after pedal stroke, I survived the heat. Others didn’t, a lot of riders scratched quite in this firstweek of the event.

Another concern: eating. The warmer it gets, the less you feel like eating. To calm my stomach I had many, many activia yoghurts. While fast food was on my menu the first days, I switched to avocado, tabbouleh and rice pudding, a better option. Calories are calories, they say., but sometimes you have to be a bit more careful in what to pick. When riding 15 to 17 hours each day, and even more than 20 on the last day, you just need to keep on eating more than you’re sometimes used to. Ride, eat, sleep - repeat.

Sleeping. While it’s becoming a ‘trend’ in the front pack of bikepack events to sleep as little as possible, I know that I need sleep to recover. Even if it’s just for 4 or 5 hours. I just don’t function without sleep, certainly on races of this length. While in the beginning of my bikepack trips I would never have imagined myself not knowing where to sleep at night, and to sleep all alone outside, I have become more and more relaxed with it (or I do my very best to be). I know that in the end I will always find shelter. Be it next to a church, in a stable, a graveyard, a hotel or an offered room in the house of a dotwatcher. Dotwatchers, they deserve some special praise. It’s as if they appear when you need them the most. When you’re out of water in the heat and suddenly they’re there with fresh water and watermelon. Water bottles by the side of the road with the sign ‘go French Dividers!’. What a mental boost, time after time. There was this guy on his citybike who rode with me on and guided me towards the best sandwich kiosk in Lourdes. Just like that. Total strangers that become very special people.

Memories. I have a lot of them on the French Divide. When you finish something like this, you’re overwhelmed with joy by the fact that you succeeded. Afterwards you remember mostly the good things. Like that boar that crossed your path, all those deer and foxes that you saw while riding in the most beautiful forests. The sunrise on your bike after another short night of sleep.

But of course, there were hard moments too. It’s just part of the game. Your body being in a constant state of fatigue, your mind even so. It’s then when my boyfriend, who made me discover bikepacking, is my greatest support. There’s another friend who deserves a special thank you too. And I musn’t forget the wonderful team of the French Divide.

You have to do this French Divide on your own, but you can’t do it alone. 

Words: Anne De Smet

Photography: Anne De Smet & Louis Lambin