We Have a Winner and Very Little Information

Final Sector – Perfectly Feasible

Day 3, Party Tonight

The Lunchtime Rush

Day 2 - The Bottleneck at the Curfew

Into the Night on Day One

A Working Day

"Is everybody here? Tell me if you're not"

The night before the start

The Rider Preview

Richard Calmet

Andrew Laycock

James Craven

Steven White

Peter James

Max Riese

Sam	Thomas

Romain Dessort

Pablo Wünsch Blanco

Richard Rothwell

Julia Nikolopoulos

Michel Kaden

Michal Serafin

Philippa Battye

Lee Craigie

Simon Rosmolen

Marin de Saint-Exupéry

Mark Whittaker

Nick Dokman

Mark Schmid

Neil Phillips

Etienne Coltat

Tony Gregoire

Josh Ibbett

Joergen Trepp

Iona Tulloch

Emmanuel Coltat

Rory Oliver

David Sherrington

India Landy

Pete Crawforth

Bas Rotgans

Ben Richmond

Quinda Verheul

Ingeborg Oie

Lizé François

Raoul de Jongh

André Joffroy

Eleonora Balbi

# The Lock-In

The refuge serves as the perfect place at which to end a race as the hike to reach it from either direction makes the beer at the top all the better. The refuge’s staff make all the effort to ensure every rider is catered for, and even put aside their final three eggs for Lee Craigie’s omelette ahead of her arrival. The lack of signal at the refuge fostered an atmosphere of joviality and community without any outside contact, something of a media embargoed lock-in at 2,185m. This is so that nobody hears about Camille’s ever-growing tab.

![IMG 20220829 132515](//images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/6evz2liGFpEyElw0pN4I2E/71dcd10ce61b6e049142c6e06b94f8ac/IMG_20220829_132515.jpg)

Over the course of the five hours I’m there, the sun gives way to a gentle shower which breaks and again open up to more sun. The remaining riders relax on the benches with their beers and omelettes in a very après-ski manner, the sun cream is passed round and the Ricard has been opened. Meanwhile most of the other riders have already started to make their way home via the hike a bike descent to the car park and onwards via trains, cars and lift sharing.

There’s talk of a walk to a local hot thermal bath today or tomorrow, but nobody is in a rush to go anywhere. The Refuge has fully engaged everybody’s holiday mode and it’s a delightful place to witness their sharing of tales from their rides.

Two riders were issued prizes at their finish, Richard Calmet for his win and a second to Julia Nikolopoulos for embodying the ethos of the race the most. Her husband Alex raced last year and they were due to race this year as a pair, but an injury meant she would need to race solo in his absence. The fact she finished first woman had no bearing on her prize, Camille is steadfast in his commitment to Further being a gender neutral race, a choice he can back up with the fact Emma Pooley was the winner of the inaugural event.

One rider's name who was thrown around as being a candidate for Man of the Match is Marin de Saint-Exupéry. Last year's winner and fourth place at Transcontinental a little over three weeks ago, Marin declared at the start that he wasn't here to race but we suspected his competitive edge may get the best of him and we were proven wrong. He committed to nine hour sleeps each night and sat down for regular big meals, much to his stomach's dismay.

![IMG 20220826 145612](//images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/5wkz7TklGLwbSmJ0g6wnk9/6adea8b27243d0508e9eaba4ea417a68/IMG_20220826_145612.jpg)

For a second time this race Phil Battye managed to find herself a mattress to sleep on in a hobbit house near the town of Tor. If you ever thought time travel didn’t exist, then I urge you to visit Tor. In this town on an ascent out of Spain to the Port de Cabus, Andorra, the houses here appear to be held together with either good old traditional craft or a wing and a prayer. Half its houses are well kept and clearly lived in while the others have been left to Mother Nature. As we pass through, we can’t resist flying the drone over in an attempt to capture its timeless charm, and after minutes we’re called at my two young boys tucked away behind a rock on the mountain side with a toy gun. They assure us it’s not real, but I can’t help but hope they’re not hunting drones. We later learn it’s something of an unsolved [90’s murder village](https://www.hahn-hartung.com/tor-murder-in-the-pyrenees-stern-crime) and on one of the smuggling routes for tabacco from Andorra and into Spain.

![IMG 20220828 190214](//images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/i4OPpNZK0KpWBKj48MguC/287a505cac06e58dc5d828615d261804/IMG_20220828_190214.jpg)

# The Ups, The Downs, and The Tarmac

Riders share opinions on the hardest parts of the race and one suggestion from Julia was the Andorra leg; having spent days traversing mountains sewn together with only Pyrenean villages and small towns, riders talk of being overwhelmed in Andorra. Its manicured roads and busy traffic, its heavy civilisation and its abundance of shops and gas stations were affronting for those who had only seen summits and trails and heard cow bells and wind for days. It’s a common opinion to hear that the most populated areas can be some of the hardest as they’re such a contrast to the remote wild places the riders came for. Conversely, some riders report enjoying Andorra as it made for some very welcome fast progress and easy resupply before one final trek up to the refuge.

# The Race Up Front

It’s hard to overstate how much of an impact the night curfews had on the front of the race. Camille’s exemplary positioning of the Sectors and timing of the curfews meant no rider made it over one of the curfewed sectors ahead of anyone else. A perfect equaliser for the first two nights, mimicking the effects of a stage race: fast pace and more rest.

Early race leader and favourite Neil Phillips missed the Check Point on Mount Fourcat on the first day due to not having fully read the manual and not being prepared enough. At the end of Sector 2 before the hike to Mount Fourcat, Neil and eventual winner Richard Calmet tracked only one minute apart, however, 2.5km later Richard reached the CP and Neil was nowhere to be seen for another two hours and ten minutes having completed Sector 3 in the wrong direction before re-routing up to the CP. An effort that cost him precious time and effort given he’d been vocal about completing Sector 7 that evening before the 20:45 curfew struck. Assuming he hadn’t made this routing error on the first day and removing 2 hours from his times, he still wouldn’t have made it over any of the sectors ahead of a rival and therefore would not have profited from the curfews. In fact, no rider was able to use the curfews to their advantage and all the leaders were stopped either on a curfew or in a hotel before the curfew.

Neil was later stopped on the Final Sector at curfew, forced to scratch and descend back to safety once the effects of hypothermia from the two storms started to take hold on a high and exposed mountain at 1am. His kit list was minimal, and he paid the price. Camille’s kit requirements are often debated as some believe he asks too much of riders, but he claims he may even need to add more.

Richard Calmet came in to this event as a relative unknown and many racers arrived at the Refuge for their first race, including Iona Tulloch, Andrew Laycock, Simon Rosmolen, Mark Whittaker and Romain Dessort. 

# What's Next?

Camille shared some thoughts of how he might evolve this race for next year, most of which would bring additional challenges to riders. Some would favour the climbers, the hikers, the mountaineers, or the map readers. He draws the line at fixed rope climbs though.

# What is Further?

Further is undefinable. Having spent a short time following the race, I still struggle to choose a selection of words to communicate the spirit of the race. The impact it has on riders is profound, which means it must be a gift. It tests riders in such a holistic way it must be a challenge. For those at the front it’s a race. Riders put their blind faith in Camille and his ability to architect a route, so it must be an adventure. I’m none the wiser in how to define Further, and it evolves with each iteration of the race. The best I have is that it’s a work in progress, but aren’t we all?


Further Wrap Up

[https://www.instagram.com/p/Ch0cJWPMYd-/](https://www.instagram.com/p/Ch0cJWPMYd-/)

Richard Calmet takes the win having hiked the smuggler's route from Andorra back to the refuge in a whisker shy of 60 hours of racing.

In second place Andrew Laycock came in a little under one hour behind Richard.

The third place on the leaderboard is incorrect due to the 10 minute tracking interval. James Craven has in fact taken third place having arrived at 10:20 last night, while Steven White arrived only one minute behind.

The Refuge du Ruhle sits at 2,100 masl and is surrounded by rugged mountains well above the treeline, while this soaks people it its beauty, it’s devoid of internet and quite rightly so. As a result we know very little about the finish last night as there’s practically a media embargo on the race once riders make it out of signal. The organiser relied on binoculars to tracks the lights as they approached the refuge. The only information to have escaped the race is from the photographer at Albion who must have made a dash down the mountain late last night to update his colleagues back in the UK. See his photos and some words about the first four finishers, and that’s all you’re getting!

I’ll head up to the refuge today to see the finishers so far and update you later today. I’m in the dark as much as anyone.


The Final Sector has been the making of most riders, and the breaking of others. The riders who have so far fallen victim to its test are Josh Ibbett, Neil Phillips and Ingeborg Oie, all of whom scratched from its slopes.

# That’s the Spirit!

Riders are reporting the GPX track on the Final Sector to be very hard to follow, Camille mentioned at the briefing that riders could find an alternative downstream if they needed. But only those who listened at the briefing would know that. Lee Craigie’s Wahoo doesn’t have any French basemaps so she’s navigating with a breadcrumb trail, a wing and a prayer, hence why her path looks a little different to everyone else’s. There was a small cluster of riders who bottlenecked at the water crossing at the very beginning of the HAB and many spent a long time looking for the route. In true Northern style, Rich Rothwell suffered no fools and bushwhacked ahead following the GPX to the letter of the law. Much like the water they’re crossing, riders will take the path of least resistance to them and find their way up the first kilometre of the HAB, all within the rules as they’re required to stick to the spirit of the course and if they still spend 3+ hours hiking then that’s the spirit!

Here's a shot of Pablo Wünsch Blanco in the midst of the hike a bike, the photo below is of his saddle pack which has been in need of a hack/bodge. He currently has cable ties holding together his shoes, his seat pack and his entire race.

![301505689 564111165449624 8102759471959727606 n](//images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/35OYWJFugVCbL3pKzbjtDF/d9511ed78cb5de607b2e0a8257d3753e/Phil_hab_from_ig.png)

I headed up from Bagergue to meet the riders near the summit but in the time since I’d ridden the sector on Wednesday and today, three landslides had rendered the track undrivable and we only made it 3km up, however, we still caught a number of riders on their descent down.

![IMG 20220828 144812](//images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/416M6HgUe1kOMGptCZBYfV/3b89dcae81921d41090d4fe146b9d531/IMG_20220828_144812.jpg)

![IMG 20220828 143427](//images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/37OOehYvVBwF48y8p8aOey/f24c2e84096883b6bb78e2e34f225736/IMG_20220828_143427.jpg)

We met them at the moment the memories of the hardships of the hike a bike up had been overlayed with the joy of such a thrilling descent. The rougher early drops open to double track gravel and riders fly down, compensating for the slow morning’s hike.

![IMG 20220828 150058](//images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/4Y6kTMwDfmKYv8GcwiEBvv/e4e17a6e8681b8946298031e909c2927/IMG_20220828_150058.jpg)

*Julia Nikolopoulos tackles the descent off the Final Sector. Some hard earned Type 1 fun.*

Two riders who hit the bikepacking lottery last night are Rich Rothwell and Phil Battye, when searching for a bivvy spot before the Final Sector they came across two mattresses in a shed and bedded down for an excellent 6 hours kip. Phil also managed a pint and a full meal last night and she stopped for a wee swim at one of the lakes atop the sector. She confesses that she is no longer fussed about racing for a position and that she’d much rather tackle the hike to the refuge from Andorra at sunrise tomorrow. Julia is her closest female rival who does intend on riding through the night, she’s previously hiked the path from Andorra to the refuge and knows all too well how long it could take.

“Apart from the road bollocks this is a great mtb race” - Rich Rothwell

Rich claims the descent into Bagergue is the best descent ever, but the price paid was the morning’s HAB.

![IMG 20220828 152228](//images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/3scehLMG540SnmkREeqa3G/b1c60e0ea24d6e3fec931846b8d71ee2/IMG_20220828_152228.jpg)

*Lee Craigie with salt lines on a top that resemble contour lines. Must have been hot.*

When asked if Lee Craigie had any words for Camille she thought for a moment and replied with: “That sector could have been a race in itself Camille, you shite”. And we’ll leave you with that for today.

Header image is from Zed Lipid who captured the storm around the Final Sector last night.

In the French Pyrenees near the start it’s hard to imagine the storms the leaders were facing up on the final sector last night. The major result of the night curfew is a scratch from Neil Phillips, having gone too light on his setup he wasn’t equipped for a 10 hour stop at 2,000m just above the treeline on the sector and at 01:00 descended back down to Les for safety, but moving on the sector at night puts him out of the race.

![Neil Scratch post](//images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/2vQKfU887IwOFDvltTxC0Z/0464d36a05f72c91e5cf2bc99ca4465b/Neil_Scratch_post.jpg)

Les was clearly the place to be last night and yet again we’ve seen a bottleneck of riders all sleeping in Les to start the ascent of a sector in the morning. Day 3 of the stage race. These riders may profit from having some company or carrots to chase ahead of them on the trail.

No rider made it off the Final Sector within the curfew, which makes for a very exciting finale. It’s a clear run in to the finish now with no curfews in their way.

The Evening Gathering is at 8pm tonight but there will only be a very small handful of finishers who make it, Richard is likely to arrive late in the evening, and we suspect James Craven will reap the reward of his flat route back via France. If neither of these make it, then it'll just be Camille and the scratchers drowning their sorrows on the 12eur bottles of wine.

# To Andorra, or not to Andorra? That is the question.

Once off the Final Sector riders have a handful of options for their return to the refuge, including:

1. Through Andorra and approach the refuge from the west via a hike that’s commonly used by smugglers for cheap cigarettes.
2. Port d’Aula is the border crossing between France and Spain with a hefty hike to the border and a sweet gravel descent back down into France. From there, it’s all tarmac with a few rollers back to the car park north of the refuge for one final hike a bike
3. The newfound option is to avoid all unnecessary climbing and  off road to head west from the end of the sector, back to Les, north into France and round the foothills via St Gaudens and St Girons.

Neil’s route from Les back to the refuge nicely shows us the route of those who will re-route midrace in favour of the flatter fully paved route back to the hike up to the refuge.

We’ve heard reports of a few tumbles on the first sector down from the refuge and we learnt of one victim: Pablo Wünsch Blanco’s Boa on his shoes, but it’s nothing a cable tie can’t fix.

![IMG 20220824 191208](//images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/4KAkdN88HROqsY07DxZxeX/3584185a1dad6fe095dbc599869a4a8d/IMG_20220824_191208.jpg)

# Scratch Report

Josh Ibbett pulled the pin this morning due to brake failure and struggling to find the GPX.

Iona Tulloch is out due to potentially contracting heatstroke yesterday on Sector 6 and she also has forward travel to Bordeaux on Wednesday. It’s also worth mentioning that Further is her first race and she only started cycling one year ago.

India Landy is a scratch as well, speculative reasons include a bad stomach on day 1, trouble with her valve cores and a squashed banana. Post-writing we’ve learnt it’s due to a re-route for a resupply, followed by a mechanical that is unfixable due to all bike shops being closed in Tarascon.

Etienne and Emmanuel Coltat are both out as they know they won’t make the time cut at midnight tomorrow, as is Tony Gregoire.


The effect of the curfews is easy to see as the pointy end of this race could be mistaken for a stage race. After the convergence of riders between the hotels in Massat and the start of Sector 6B, riders have spent much of today riding closer to their competitors than we would see on a typical second day’s racing. Without the need for sleep deprivation, this race suits those who can ride fast and benefit from 9+ hours of rest, much like a stage race. Those more conditioned ultra-racers have found themselves without the need for their skills in night riding, timing overnight resupplies and choosing a bivvy spot. Most of the racers I’ve seen in Aulus Les Bains after the descent off Sector 7 are talking of taking a hotel in Les tonight and tackling the Final Sector when its gates open tomorrow at 06:30.

This oscillation of riders is making for a very social but fast race; riders bump into each other at resupplies, and some were sharing hostel rooms last night, but once the clock starts in the morning they’re well rested enough to hit the riding hard. Further back in the race, riders who were not affected by the curfew are not facing the same level of socialising. 

Many riders have found the route to be harder than expected so far and are behind their intended schedule. It’s always challenging to estimate daily distances when your main sources of information are a map and the elevation profile.

James Craven’s northern route from Aulus-Les-Bains via St Girons paid dividends and he’s now nestled between Neil Phillips and Richard Calmet, two riders who had a significant lead earlier this morning. We’ve learnt today that Richard Calmet is an Andorran dwelling Spaniard who is an Enduro racer by trade, which we can only assume means he spends much of time at altitude walking up hills and shredding descents. Perfect for Further.

Riders are starting to yearn for savoury foods, although the coke shelf and ice cream freezer in the Utile in Aulus-Les-Bains has seen much traffic this afternoon. Gazpacho has also been a firm favourite amongst the continental Europeans and Phil Battye. Phil’s gazpacho ingeniously trebled up as a drink, a tomato paste for her cheese sandwich and a liquid to moisten her couscous.

![IMG 20220827 143524](//images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/62aBNBRWGzjGaugJAiAVYe/6eba62fb7ec85a8178d6f627a50b7c9f/IMG_20220827_143524.jpg)

__What's around the next mountain?__

Looking ahead to tomorrow once the riders come off the Final Sector it’s a free route to the finish back at the refuge. Riders have reverse engineered their routes knowing there are only two possible ascents to the refuge: the one they took on Thursday evening or a second approach from Andorra, notorious for being the route of cigarette smugglers. The difficulty of the route so far has some riders questioning their routes from the end of Final Sector to the finish. Most have routed the most direct path through Andorra. But some are now talking about rerouting mid-race to take the path of least resistance from the end of the Sector west towards Les again and take a northern loop through Saint Gaudens, Saint Girons and Foix. On a map this would look like an absurd route to take, but with the contour lines it’s easy to see why a rider would take this route.

It’s worth mentioning this fast tarmac route may not be so fast for those on full suspension bikes, whereas the gravel bikes would tackle this paved section much faster and profit from it more. Those on bigger bikes have enjoyed the roughest section of the route so far and, excluding the Final Sector, will likely find themselves losing time to those on smaller bikes, but this all depends on the fatigue of the rider on the bike.

__Scratch Report__

Joergen Trepp is out, as is Quinda Verhuel. Bas Rotgans is a scratch following a second attempt of Mount Fourcat today after having a hard time yesterday.


Curfews are the New Sleep Deprivation

In order to escape the heat and find some 4G, I’ll be based in Aulus-Les-Bains for the rest of the afternoon hoping to catch all the riders who resupply here. The Utile minimarket is open from 08:00-20:00 without a lunch break so many of the incoming riders will find all they need here.

Sam Thomas and Josh Ibbett completed their supermarket sweep and resurfaced with sandwiches, biscuits, cokes and ice creams. The route out of Aulus-Les-Bains is proving to be divisive; the northern route via Saint Girons takes in fewer cols but adds distance, the eternal dilemma. Camille tells us the southern route is vile and clearly slower as Richard and Neil’s route via Bethmale has cost them their lead and they look to be approaching Les Bordes-sur-Lez with much less of a gap to James Craven and Andrew Laycock.

![IMG 20220827 112800](//images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/4PcJfJfe6tNkEsIZuoA8aB/5673a1a575339654e410a5dcde9a4887/IMG_20220827_112800.jpg)

Richard Calmet was the only rider to have made it to Sector 6B last night and bivvied whilst many rested at the cycling hostel in Massat. These riders include Peter James, James Craven, Neil Phillips, Steven White, Andrew Laycock and Josh Ibbett. Whether the comfort of a hostel has paid off is still yet to be decided.



Twenty four hours in and the race is still wide open. Only one rider, Richard Calmet, made it onto the first night curfew sector at 6B but a mere few hundred metres in.

Twenty four hours in and the race is still wide open. Only one rider, Richard Calmet, made it onto the first night curfew sector at 6B but a mere few hundred metres in.

The effect of the night curfew is best shown with the screen grab of last night’s antics on Sectors 6A, B and C.

![22-08-27-09-38-24 01](//videos.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/3zdubksnN2Am07NNcNRhO4/16f8bb8a82f50c4f1df4214259e7575a/22-08-27-09-38-24_01.mp4)

This curfew has effectively turned this race into a stage race, and Camille’s positioning of the sectors is exemplary. They've not benefitted a single rider, yet. The next curfew likely to affect the riders is on the Final Sector but these curfews really only benefit a rider who is able to make it through the sector and leaves their competitors stationary on the sector during the curfew hours. It’s not possible for any of the leaders to make it over the Final Sector today before 20:45. Our estimated time for traversing this 38km stretch with 2,123m of elevation up to 2,350m is 8-9 hours for the fastest hikers. This is the stretch where those who have prioritised lightweight setups with easy hike a bike capability will prevail.

__It would be easy to underestimate this sector and suffer at its merciless gradients.__

A less significant way the curfews can benefit a rider is if their competitor is caught off guard on the sector, unable to find a suitable place to sleep and suffers a poor night’s sleep. The ascent of the Final Sector is devoid of shelter, the first 2-3km of the climb is densely wooded so naturally covered but the remaining 3km is as exposed as a mountain side can be. The reward for such a hard ascent is a selection of cabanes at the top of the descent before the morning’s cruise into Bagergue.

We spent a bit of time last night and this morning with some of the riders holding up the rear of the race.

Tarascon’s pizza offering was thoroughly enjoyed last night and the leftovers devoured out on the trail this morning. India Landy tells us of some stomach trouble earlier in the day possibly due to some questionable water. The heat drenched faces of these mountains are a terrible place to lose fuel, fluids, and salts. She’s a little behind today but being unable to keep food in for a period always has repercussions for a few days, it’s unlikely she’ll be back to fighting fitness for another day or so.

As Quinda descends the remaining hundred metres of Sector 4 along the fence and not the switchbacks, the familiar sound of a cleat being hit on a pedal rings above the noise of the tour bus that’s just pulled up and her squeaky brakes. The claggy ground has enveloped itself around her cleat from the walk on the descent. Iona appears less than a minute later having taken the switchbacks. She is in good spirits even though she talks about needing food, I daren’t tell her she’ll have some trouble for a while. Her breakfast consisted of something sweet and oaty. You can take the Scot out of Scotland, but you’ll never take the oats out of the Scot. We later learn she does have an old baguette in her bag, she was just avoiding eating it as it now resembles a house brick. Bon appétit.

As the sun sets on the first day’s racing, it’s been a delight to follow the racers on their day’s riding.

The first thing on tonight’s agenda is to discuss the curfews. Not a single has made it over the first night curfew on Sector 6B, Richard Calmet made it a mere kilometre onto the sector before bedding down having found some shelter. While he hasn’t been able to buy himself a potential 9H 45M lead over his counterparts, he has bought himself that much time in rest, an advantage that will pay dividends later in the race. Making it through the Final Sector tomorrow before the curfew hits again at 20:45 will be a very high ask. A 2,350m high ask to be exact.

Five of the front runners have opted for a night in Massat, the last town before Sector 6B, which is a little over two hours from the start of the night curfew. We will likely see many dots start moving around 4am tomorrow morning, ready to start the sector as the sun rises on the second day's racing. There are a handful of riders who have opted to make it to the start of Sector 6B ready to hit the parcours at 06:30 including Sam Thomas, Romain Dessort and we know Phil Battye is intending to do the same. Whether their decision to ride later and wake later will pay off can only be determined later in the race, and it's likely to come down to who prefers an early start and or a late finish. With no rider having made it through 6B, it's still all to play for tomorrow.

The Final Sector has been revered amongst racers, and rightly so. I headed out on a reconnaissance ride and can confirm it’s something of a beast. The 6km hike was torment in the heat, the hiking track is so steep you crane your neck at every hairpin to look ahead but my word the descent was worth every single step. Especially with the prospect of an incoming storm. Life-affirming stuff.

A common theme of today has been racers running out of water on Mount Fourcat, the toll of a long hike a bike that many tackled in the midday heat was evident on the faces and jerseys of those we saw in Tarascon sur Ariège, another place that’s very close to the start as the crow flies but was 85km riding on the route. Dreary eyed with sun scream smeared across their faces and swear marks on their jerseys akin to contour lines, the last riders looked like they’d had a hard day out. The six riders we saw in Tarascon all ordered the ultracyclist’s usual: coke, water and a pizza. And some dotwatching, naturally.

![IMG 20220826 211359](//images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/6ecQOe4nmBico742BimqQx/f07a8c1d4935f9fcc5bc76d8567ff605/IMG_20220826_211359.jpg)

*Quinda checks the map and for her boyfriend's dot ahead in the race.*

All riders are heading west, into the fairer weather where the skies were clearest as the sun sets. The Refuge Du Ruhle appeared to be surrounded by a storm cloud. The meeting of the Mediterranean and Atlantic weather systems in these high mountains can make for some quick changing and temperamental weather, and the riders are at their mercy this weekend. The forecast has some thunderstorms tomorrow followed by a hot dry Sunday. Keeping safe during the stormy nights are one of the reasons Camille introduced the night curfews to ensure nobody was tempted to spend the depths of the night on an exposed mountain face.

One rider who struggled much with today’s heat was Bas Rotgans; on the ascent to Fourcat he retreated back to Les Cabannes to find somewhere to stay and to have another attempt tomorrow. He appears to have taken refuge in the same hotel as Ben Richmond, but we know nothing more about why Ben has stopped but we do know he's the rider on the steel Gary Fischer cyclocross bike with cantilever brakes, and can't help but wonder if the terrain has beaten Ben up today.

We talked to Ingeborg Oie today and she shared that she has travelled down with her partner and two children who will be on a family holiday whilst she’s racing. Ingeborg and her partner Ian To, whose name many will recognise from this year’s Transcontinental Race amongst other things, competed in last year’s inaugural Further East in East Anglia on a tandem but unfortunately didn’t finish. Ingeborg also scratched the inaugural Further in the Pyrenees and comes back with a score to settle. However, she did concede that at moments on today’s hike she would have preferred a cycling holiday with her family which is easy to imagine.

# Scratch Report

Pete Crawforth is a scratch due to having found today’s riding difficult and knowing what’s to come.

Raoul de Jongh is marked on the map as having travelled 0km, he did make it to the refuge but without his bike as he ditched it on the ascent having taken a wrong turn and deciding the race wasn’t for him. Whether he’s a DNF or a DNS is up for debate, but he came to refuge anyway to cheer on his fellow racers and enjoy the atmosphere.

A day’s work to an office worker, or two thirds of the way to the first night curfew for Further riders, the first eight hours of Further have sailed by.

The big news of the day is early race leader Neil Phillips missed the CP at Mount Fourcat and had to retrace his steps to make it. Some would say that’s easily done as the CP is merely a trig point, but he missed the whole mountain. This error cost him approximately two hours and he moves from second place on the road to sixth, with a fair dent in his reserves. Neil was one of the few riders who was vocal about his ambitions to make it over Sector 7 before the night curfew at 20:45 this evening, this error may have put today’s goal too far out of reach.

His routing mistake leaves Richard Calmet as the clear leader who has the best chance of making it over Sector 7 before the curfew. Remember: a rider cannot start OR move on any of Sector 6B, 7 and the Final Sector once the curfew is in place from 20:45 to 06:30. If Richard makes it through Sector 7 and no other rider does, then in Camille’s words it’s his race to win. The forced stationary period of 9 hours and 45 minutes would provide the leaders with enough of a gap over their competitors that we see one rider or a select few breakaway from the others over Sector 6B and 7 tonight. Or perhaps none of them will and we will see a bottleneck of riders at the gateway to the Sector awaiting sunrise tomorrow morning, well rested and ready to go.

![IMG 20220826 124651](//images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/4ApQGRCDCXuuedRhKojDlD/8056321451d16e889f74913464df7b12/IMG_20220826_124651.jpg)

Lee Craigie came off Mount Fourcat in tenth position and reported having been out of water for a while, as did Rich Rothwell. It’s unsurprising as it’s been a hot sunny day here and there’s a significant lack of water on the mountain for riders to rely upon. It’s testament to the challenges of this route to witness what would otherwise be considered a rookie error by two of the UK’s most experienced racers.

Phil Battye’s grin and orange bike can be spotted a mile off. She claims she’s having a wonderful time and has passed a trail of broken men on the hike up to Mount Fourcat. I suspect the former is a product of the latter. She's still hoping to make it to Massat for pizza, although concedes it's possibly a little out of reach.

![IMG 20220826 152821](//images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/3bAAr7jqLPe8JIbWAqWDmU/8ca3b7bee72bc002252cfef56c559449/IMG_20220826_152821.jpg)

*David Sherrington resupplying in Les Cabannes.*

David Sherrington’s morning efforts to make it to the refuge for the start may have taken a toll on his legs and morale. He started the ascent in the dark and assures us that the sunrise was beautiful but the demands of multitasking taking photos and swearing at the route were too much to do at once.

Les Cabannes is the last village before the ascent to the refuge and it’s also the end of Sector 1 after almost 50km of riding, much of which was hiking up and down, which is a big hit to morale when you’ve travelled such little distance as the crow flies and worked so hard for it. But it’s never supposed to be easy. I caught David at a moment he’d spent some time scouting for hotel options and he’d decided on taking some short naps tonight before booking into a hotel for a long rest tomorrow night before or after the night curfews on Sectors 6b and 7, progress depending.

Marin de Saint-Exupéry sat further down the rankings than you would expect to find him. He stopped for a meal in Les Cabannes and it’s clearly worked wonders as he’s flown up the rankings over Sector 2 from having been spotted between Quinda and India early on the Sector 2 ascent to descending off Mount Fourcat behind Phil. A pace that’ll be hard to beat, and possibly hard to maintain having moved from back of the pack to 16th position. However, moving up the pack has become Marin's signature style of late and he pulled this move at TCR last month from 32nd at Control Point 1 to 4th overall at the finish in Bulgaria. However, he still won't be fully recovered and claims to have come for more of a holiday. He also admits he takes to competition like a moth to a flame, and it's hotting up.

![IMG 20220826 145612](//images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/3SsSIB6yEFX4QTg4Jkvcpu/de75454655ddf0beb06fbae8b983753a/IMG_20220826_145612.jpg)

With all riders and media spread across the ten 6-dorm rooms, very few were gifted a good night’s sleep. Reasons why include the +2,000m altitude, the storm raging outside, close proximity to competitors, or simply nerves. Fortunately for everyone, the storm passed during the night and we awoke to a clear sky and a beautiful red sunrise cloaking the western facing mountains afront the refuge. A moment of calm after the storm.

# “Is everybody here? Tell me if you’re not here”

Camille’s rider briefing was suitably succinct, a brief overview of the sectors followed by a reminder that cyclists always give way to walkers and horse riders on the trails. There’s mention of a possibly closed forest road on one sector, a questionable GPX track on another, some shelter ahead of Sector 6B and its curfew. Sector 6B has a curfew as it’s a boulder field and poses too many dangers to riders if they attempt it at night, especially if the ground is wet. It’s also harder to navigate as many of the painted markers have worn away and directions on the ground will mostly be doable only using the piles of smaller rocks on larger rocks. Little rocks on big rocks near the rocks in the boulder field, you can’t miss them.

There’s relief at the good weather and that the storms have appeared to hold off, but for how long it’s hard to know as the forecast has changed much over the past week. Later in the race riders will be spread apart so much with big mountains between them that they could experience very different weather conditions.

David Sherrington made it to the refuge this morning, while all the other riders arrived for dinner last night. A spicy little warm up for what’s to come...

“Anyone wearing a plaid shirt will be disqualified” - Camille McMillan.

Beccy Waters

Further Perseverance 2022 Tracking: Pyrenees bikepacking race with hike-a-bike and night curfews.

Further Perseverance 2022 Tracking

Camille McMillan's original Further race kicks off with a typically unorthodox start from the Refuge de Ruhle, a pyreneen refuge at an altitude of 2,185m to which riders will need to make their way to the day before. There's never a dull moment at a race organised by Camille McMillan.

Further Perseverance 2022

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