TRAKA ADVENTURE, Part1

If a tree falls in the forest but no one hears it, did the tree really fall?

If a “Fast Ultra” self-supported endurance race features a dream lineup composed of the world’s elite and a few “tourists,” but it’s canceled due to recent rainfall and overzealous officials, can it still take place? If there is only one medal for this race but no one can see it, does it still exist?

This is the story of the creation of the “Traka Adventure,” a middle ground between 200-mile one-day races like Traka, Unbound, and legendary bikepacking races such as the Atlas Mountain Race, Badlands, Race Divide, and Silk Mountain Race.

In the “middle ground”, 30-hour format races are usually the “little sisters” of major endurance races, such as the Seven Serpents compact.

Gerard Freixes, founder of Klassmark, has propelled the Traka to a flagship race in the global calendar of GRavel racing.

opposing the “4-hour cyclo-cross circuit” direction taken by the U.C.I. His challenge, Gravel Earth Series, is an alternative to the U.C.I, similar to its U.S. equivalent the “Lifetime Grand Prix,” a mix of MTB marathons and gravel events, often telegenic on the mid-U.S. trails. Gravel Earth Series remains attached to the courses, no helicopters at these events, whose climate commitment is at the heart of their creation.

The Traka Adventure, launched in the summer of 2023, was supposed to be a meeting of genres, with ultra-endurance stars like Lael Wilcox, Cinthy Frazer, Sofiane Sehil, Ulrich Bartholomäus, and Mark Geise on the same starting line as one-day gravel race specialists like Sebastian Breuer. Enabled by the reputation of the Traka 360, the list of participants also included French specialists in long-distance road events such as Max Prieur, Toto Supertramp, Yohann Delcourt, and a group of U.S. runners who came for the event.

The course falls into the “fast bikepacking” niche, 560 km of gravel and nearly 10,000 meters of elevation gain. To compare this race, which has few peers in the cycling world, it’s a warm-up of 200 km and 6,000 meters of elevation gain up to the plateaus of the Catalan Pyrenees at 2,000 meters altitude before continuing on the 2023 version of the Traka 360. The “northern” portion at Cap Creus, with its MTB trails, was deemed too technical for gravel and too mountainous for the 2024 Traka 360 edition.

The only shadow on the horizon, a month before the event, was the drought affecting Catalonia for three years, making self-sufficiency in the mountains more complicated due to the lack of water points in some sections. English municipalities are known for implementing drought measures the day before significant rainfall episodes, and the Traka was no exception, with torrential rains repeating for two weeks before the race, leading to its postponement by one day on a “backup” course that stops at the doors of the Pyrenees at 1,000 meters altitude.

But on the eve of the start, local authorities sounded the death knell for the Adventure race. The historical one-day events could take place under the announced sun, but the risk of hail and landslides forced the cancellation of the race. Knowing the winter conditions of the Race Divide or the chaos of the Atlas Mountain Race, one remains obviously perplexed by this kind of ban. However, a hail scenario at 1,000 meters altitude falling on 225 cyclists underequipped for the summit conditions of a blocked-pass gave, rightly so, the chills to the local authorities.

Gerard Freixes’ message was terse enough to understand that, for reasons beyond his control, the much-anticipated “super bowl” of “Fast Ultra” would not take place in 2024. The organization offered the possibility of registering for the main Traka 360 event for all participants, even suggesting doing both the 360 and 200 races to reach the magic number of 560 in two days.

Unless… five months of training, a winter season disrupted by the need for flatland training and sacrificed powder days, a few bureaucrats and some hail wouldn’t temper the enthusiasm of about fifteen registrants, who agreed to do it in full autonomy and “off,” without any organization but to share the first kilometers and the start at 7:00 from the Traka stadium. Sebastian Breuer was on the starting line for the “B” route, along with Steven Le Hayric, Max Prieur, Yohann Dericourt, to name a few, as well as Martinez, barely 18 and the son of a famous Olympic MTB champion, seeking his path in the ultradistance world, far from his father’s XC circuits or his brother’s Vuelta. Alongside them, “the Belgian,” I went to the registrations the day before to see if other participants wanted to attempt it given the increasingly less catastrophic weather forecast, and we agreed to start together…

On the line, a few runners were followed by a “media” team documenting their adventures. The group of cyclists from Colorado led by the founder of Rodeo Labs and their athlete Luka Hall, second in the recent Unbound XL, had left at 4 a.m. due to the time difference…

An “all-stars” group or ragtag band depending on the perspective, gathered at this long-awaited starting line for some, with the organization forced to turn a blind eye to individual determination…

The course favored elevation gain during the first 100 km, and the small group decided to reach 30 km further to the foot of the Pyrenees together. Upon reaching the original course junction, Max confirmed his intention to follow the route despite the snow showers from 1,400 meters overnight and a significant portion of the course between 1,500 and 2,000 meters altitude. He set off alone and turned back facing the storms and hail showers.

Gravel ultra is undoubtedly different from road events where “flat” efforts are light, and energy expenditure is favored on climbs, while Girona gravel requires significant power on the flats due to the often rugged nature and profile of the terrain.

The pace set by long-distance road race regulars doesn’t suit everyone. Sebastian Breuer left alone during one of the flatter sections, Steven Le Hayric decided to return to Girona to race the 360 the next day with an Italian ultra specialist. I let the three remaining go, preparing for 500 km of solo raid…

After two hours in a magnificent landscape despite the conditions, during the ascent of the main difficulty, the pass of…, I caught up with Martinez shortly before meeting the rest of the starters who had caught up with a group that had left the day before trying to complete the course in three days for their blog.

Ultra-endurance doesn’t allow riding in groups, but the idea of sharing a few kilometers with another cyclist at a similar pace appealed to me, so I proposed to… to ride together.

The kilometers flew by, with the words in my head “ultra is a competition of who can eat the most disguised as a sporting event” and the gels, gummies, and energy drinks followed each other at the “magical” rhythm of 80g/h…

Ultra-endurance doesn’t allow riding in groups, but the idea of sharing a few kilometers with another cyclist at a similar pace appealed to me. Periods of euphoria alternated with moments of doubt, and my young playmate discovered the important mental dimension of the effort as we arrived together after about ten hours at the first third of the race…

I divided the event to make it more “tangible” compared to the experience and training, and exactly 360 km remained, a familiar distance having raced the Traka in 2023. Max and Yohan left a message, they were behind us after stopping at a restaurant at the foot of the last difficulty, $$$ Martine decided to stop and return to Girona. After 15’, I explained the slight detour of the route to avoid a muddy section that Ulrich Bartholomäus strongly recommended avoiding…

The halfway point is the most difficult part, and I regretted not having a companion on the road as I skirted the “mud field” section. As if by miracle, I saw three cyclists emerge, drenched and covered in mud… One of them even wore Gore-Tex pants, and they were wrapped in their sleeping bags… Like Stanley and Livingstone 200 years ago, there was little doubt, and it was the three Colorado cyclists who had left at 4 a.m.… They were looking for a restaurant, I was looking to continue my route, and I told them my goal to reach a well-known fast-food restaurant before nightfall, and we set off towards this objective, speeding through a flatter portion of the course. Stephen is the founder of the Rodeo Labs frame brand, accompanied by his engineer and another athlete of the brand, Luke Hall. We got acquainted, and I benefited from the strong pulls of my new friends while talking about frames.

Traka adventure, partie 1

La Traka Adventure est nee de la rencontre de 2 mondes…. L’”Ultra a la journee dont les participants ont envie de franchir la ligne d’arrivee au plus tot, et le “Bikepacking” dont le but est parfois simplement de rentrer, la tete pleine de souvenirs, d images.

Chaque discipline a ses idoles et ses monuments.

Les “Bikepackers” s’extasient devant les exploits de Lael, Cynthia, Sofiane et Ullrich, les monuments se nomment Badlands, Tour divide, Atlas Mountain race ou Silk Mountain race et durent entre 48 heures et 20 jours…

Les “Ultras a la journee” venerent la Traka en Europe, Unbound aux Etats Unis, les stars se nomment Mathia, Keegan, Caroline ou xxxx

Si les meilleurs bikepackers se sont confrontes aux epreuves d’un jour, les qualities requises, l endurance, la resilience, la force mentale et l’autonomie sont specifiques au type d’effort demande, les courses sont gagnees par ceux qui dorment souvent le moins tout en maintenant une puissance proche de 50 du “FTP” tout au long de ces journees sans fin qui se repetent au fil de la course. Le public ne se masse pas au bord du parcours mais il existe un “culte” de followers rassembles sur internet, commentant a la trace l’evolution des “points” sur la carte, scrutant les heures de repos de chaque athlete et les reseaux sociaux a la recherche de faits de course et d’images de ces territoires souvent lointains

Les courses “Ultra a la journee” font la part belle a l’explosivite durant les premieres heures, la tactique de course et la capacite a soutenir un effort plus proche de 70% du FTP pendant plus de 10 heures determinant le gagnant.

Le materiel utilise est identique mais il s’agit de 2 “mondes” different, certains athlete comme Steph Breuer ou Rob Britton passent d’un cote a l autre de la barriere separant les disciplines, mais il n’existe pas de course “phare” permettant de reunir le meilleurs de chaque discipline, une sorte de “supercoupe” ou de combat de MMR/WBF

Positionnee comme l’equivalent de l’UTMB pour le Gravel, l’organisation de la Traka, course de reference en Europe pour les distances de 200 et 360km a decide en 2024 d’essayer de creer une epreuve a la croisee des chemins de ces 2 “mondes”, la Traka 560, renomee Adventure est donc nee durant l’ete 2023 pour une premiere en prealable de la Traka 2024…

Ancien fan d’une course de VTT unique chaque annee – la MB Race dont j’ai couru 6 editions – je reduis le nombre d’epreuves auquelles je participe chaque annee et me force donc a ne pas repeter la meme epreuve plus d’une fois. La Traka 360 edition 2023 m’a fait decouvrir Girona et ses environs pour le Gravel, et sa reputation non usurpee de “Mecque” de la discipline en Europe. La difficulte de trouver une rythme a mi chemin entre la course de 6-7 heures et une course de plus de 24h s’est faite sentir lors de cette course, mis a mal egalement par 2 crevaisons et la satisfaction de finir sous la barriere “Or” et de repartir avec la tasse bleue convoitee pour ceux qui l’obtiennent a quand meme laisse un gout de “trop peu” avec un classement autour de la 100eme place apres avoir fait une partie de la course avec certains grands noms de la discipline comme Sarah Sturmy, Arnaud Manzini, David Milar.

C’est donc vers des epreuves plus longue ou techniques que je m’orientais pour 2024 avant l’annonce par Gerard Freixes de l’Adventure 560… Le ticket d’entrée defini par l’organisation est un statut de finisher de la Traka 360 ou d’une epreuve similaire, le nombre d inscriptions restraint a 200 participants dont 40 equipes. Avec une temps du vainqueur estime a un minimum de 24 heures et une limite de 3 jours, et un parcours qui s’offre les pyrenees catalanes en guise d’echauffement avant les sections plus classique de l’epreuve reine, en autonomie complete un jour ferie en Espagne, l’appel aux specialistes du bikepacking ne pourrait etre plus fort, l epreuve se gagnera sans “systeme de sommeil”[1] mais necessite les capacities d endurances et d’organisation qui font la difference dans les epreuves longues….

“Le Nano-Ultra” est ne, la course de 30 heures existe deja pour la “mini” Seven Serpents croate ou **** mais cette fois la distance est l’epreuve reine… les inscriptions sont cloturees et les participants ajoutes a un groupe Telegram a quelques mois du depart. La liste des engages publiee sur le groupe est un “who’s who” des 2 disciplines, le “Super bowl” de la course d’endurance gravel va avoir lieu et je suis sur la liste des participants, tel un imposteur parmis les stars, un “Belgo-Chamoniard” dont la specialite est la course inaugurale, a l’inconnu dans des conditions dantesques comme la MB Ultime 2021 ou des parcours techniques comme le Mont Blanc Gravel de 2022.

L'echeance est fixee pour le premier week end du mois de Mai, a la sortie de l’hiver des habitants de montagne, l’entrainement rendu difficile par les conditions climatiques qui ne permettent pas de rouler dehors durant plusieurs mois et forcent donc a s’entrainer “indoor” ou dans des regions plus clementes… Si vous pensez que passer 3 heures sur Zwift avec “Coco” le robot pacer est un sacerdoce, essayez de le faire en regardant le ciel bleu dehors et les photos des amis occupes a skier la “Meilleure journee de poudre de l’annee” a peu pres toutes les semaines….

Les sacrifices sont grands mais la recompense s’annonce mythique, participer a la [premiere edition d’une course qui devrait s’imposer comme la reference de la discipline avec les meilleurs du monde, se mesurer durant 30 heures sous les yeux des “dotwatchers” sur un parcours combinant la Moyenne montagne et les plus beaux sentiers gravel d’Europe, avec le passage de nuit au mythique Cap Creus, point situe a l’est de l’Espagne pres de la residence de Salvador Dali, des exces immobiliers de Amporia mais aussi des superbes ruelles de Cadaques et Roses….

[1] Nom donne a l’equipement de bivouac