Epic Bike Rides III: Biivouac Enduro

During our most recent pilgrimage to the mountainbiking mecca that is France, Eric and I visited the Biivouac Enduro, held from May 23rd to the 26th. The Biivouac is a three day enduro for teams of two, and, as with most multi day enduro events, spots were limited. So the first race was actually getting an entry. The registration email address was online on December 15th at 18:00. Our entry was sent by 18:02 – two days later we learned we were one of the 50 lucky teams to be selected from 90 entries within the first three minutes of registration opening. But what did we actually sign up for? The only info we had was that it would be 3 days of enduro riding in France, in the area of Millau Grands Causses and Gorges du Tarn. We never actually checked where that was – 3 days of riding in France was all I really needed to know.

We’ve been riding together for about ten years, so we know what to expect from each other. A bit complaining and swearing from Eric, who’s a bit more balls to the wall but tends to miss a corner from time to time. I try to ride my own lines, even when I’m following someone. So our tactic was for me to ride in front and have Eric ride shotgun, yelling at me to go faster.

The day of our arrival in Millau, where the circus would leave from, we met up with Martin, who I’d met at last year’s Trans Provence, and his Swedish teammates (Team Martiin and Team Kristiin). The circus truly did come to town with a monster truck show setting up at the adjacent campsite. We spent that first afternoon riding a small section of the local Grand Randonnee, rolling in to the pizza parlour at 9 pm.

Passing through old French towns

Was this going to be our uplift for the weekend?

The route was – much as we expected but still to our surprise – awesome, with many technical trails, some high speed stuff and above everything beautiful views and scenery that changed day by day. Stages and liaisons were marked with arrows, never too much to lose that backcountry feeling, but enough not to get lost. At least for most of us, some teams managed to get lost on the first stage.

Day zero started off with a late-afternoon move from Millau to a gite on top of a windy plateau. The tent was small, dare I say cramped, but not so constraining that it became “What happens at Biivouac, stays at Biivouac”. Within an hour one team – including a young Bruce Springsteen lookalike – had their bottle of absinthe confiscated. The night remained pretty much uneventful, the hard wind and pre-race nerves limiting truly useful sleep.

Our luxury accommodation. Yes, that’s one tent per team.

Free beers on the first evening

On friday, the first day of riding began with a liaison on a track we had ‘discovered’ earlier in the week, but we didn’t really know what to expect from the special stages. Well, something with switchbacks, probably. After a momentary pause (switching from XC to full face helmets, checking tire pressures, eating…) we were allowed to start. A small section of the stage ahead was visible up ahead, so we could see what the riders in front of us were doing. We couldn’t see the small climb hidden right behind a corner. I was in the wrong gear and had to get off the bike and walk up. With no speed and not clipped in, I decided to walk part of the descent that followed as well. I got back on the bike as quick as possible and rode on. The rest of the stage went better; after finishing we were excited about the riding but were happy we didn’t crash.

The premiere stage actually went pretty well in retrospect, our week of holiday getting used to less tame trails than at home likely paid off. Nevertheless, each of Fridays stages had us gasping at the view, pushing the tempo as much as we dared, but occasionally hanging on for dear life. On the fourth stage Eric took the lead just this once – an experiment that would end in failure with a burped tire and riding down to the pub on his rim, luckily with little time loss.

Beautiful views

Waiting for the start of the first special.

The organisation: Greg, Quentin and Alice

Saturday we were greeted with snow right on the transition from first ascent to first special. The stage began with a relatively easy trail which soon turned into clay, slick boulders and utter nastiness. Eric wiped out twice, bruising enough of himself to lose quite a bit of time. The second special made up for it, though, with a number of high speed sections, fast switchbacks and a two-wheel drift across a wet granite slab. By the end of the day we would repeat this special, abandoning special four due to poor weather. Lunch brought us more local bread and meats, and was followed by the most grueling hike-a-bike you could imagine. Slugging along, the bikes proved to be a completely useless accessory for hiking, getting in the way whether you pushed it or carried it up the narrow, winding trail that carried us from valley floor back to the plateau.

Greg (Noce, organiser) greeted us with apologies near the top; to make up for it a special of boulders, tight switchbacks (yes, more! (If that Dutch Mountain ever gets realized, it should have a slope with switchbacks for practise)) and babyheads ensued. The evening was spent atop yet another windy plateau, all the teams packed into a old stone farmhouse as they watched the results of the day pass by. The top 10 of the race cheering each other on, the whole room happily booing race leader Francois Bailly-Maitre walking a narrow and sketchy turn. The night’s clear skies brought us frost at 800 m elevation, with frozen clothes and chains to greet us in the morning.

Frozen bike

On our way on the last day

Waiting for the start of the last special at 1220m, with sun!

Sundays first special began with yet another edge-of-the-plateau ride. It started with a climb: less than 10 seconds after our start we’d already caught up with the team that started half a minute before us, giving us some extra confidence for the next stage. The final timed stage of the Biivouac was a 15-20min run from 1220 m all the way to the bottom of the valley. It started with 45 vertical metres of climbing (Eric and I sprinting – either by bike or by foot to the top), followed by every kind of trail you could imagine, from exposed loose rock to loamy berms and slippery, rooty switchbacks.

Having survived eleven timed specials totalling almost two hours of riding and countless wonderful trails in between, we treated ourselves to a beer with the Martiins and Team Up/Down at the village fountain. We both had two crashes each, both burped a tire, and treated the Mavic service team to a course in servicing King freehubs. Overall we finished 40th, with which we are actually pretty satisfied. Our best result: a surprising 29th on the first special, especially since we thought we did better on some other stages. Our worst result: 51st on the third special, where we spent quite some time fixing a flat.

The Biivouac movie with English subtitles.

Overall it was an excellent weekend of riding on tough, demanding specials in amidst beautiful scenery. Being Dutch we sometimes wondered when or where the shuttle uplift was going to depart or if we were going to get dinner, but hey, it’s France and the subtitle of the event was “Aventure enduro vtt par equipe”. Be patient and all will be well.

Gear footnote: we rode what most people in this field would call ‘XC’ bikes: a 140 mm Ibis Mojo SL and a 120 mm Rocky Mountain Element. A bit more travel and grippier tires in the wet would have been nice, though. Both have been solved at the moment :)

Trivia footnote: We rode more or less in the area of “De Renner” by Tim Krabbé

Text: Erik Nienhuis and Eric Wictor
Photos: Erik Nienhuis

1 2