Author: X-Pyr

X-Pyr J+1 Ichère Pass 

What to say … The theme of the day? The rain … no need to look for thermal baths to relax, we are already bathed in humidity up to the tip of our toes.  Anyway, overcast sky as soon as we wake up which definitely doesn’t announce anything good, after a breakfast and a quick packing of the camp, it’s time to set off, Thibault on his feet and us in a van on pursuit.

Thomas quickly decides to go with him on foot and drizzling rain is coming that breaks all hope of being able to fly, at least a “top to bottom” flight but, everything considered, there’s not even too much relief in the area that would allow us that. 

After 60 kilometers on foot already covered yesterday, we swallow kilometres one after the other in a good mood. Despite this very changeable weather, we have the opportunity to discover wonderful landscapes scattered with clouds at all heights. We also experience some encounters. Some human ones when we meet other competitors or their assistants who go back and forth.

Some more animal ones like cows, sheep, horses… some less fierce than the others and among them one in particular.  He first tries to rob Thibault’s wrap before attacking our van with his head. Then he rounds up his friends to prevent me from going away. A break in the rain allows us to make a glide to win some kilometres and to save our feet while going down. This was the first…and the last sky clearing of the day. The rain remains with us until the end. Nevertheless we have some short dry pauses but no relief is workable, looking more like fully green heaps than anything else.

We finally stop at 8:45 pm at the foot of the Ichère Pass to spend the night there between hay bales and river. We try to treat foot blisters and tendons as best as we can following the advices we received from everywhere. We take a very stimulating meal, swallow a camomile tea and go to bed for the night.

Results of the day: 70 kilometres on foot, 1980 meters of d+ – no way to speak about d-! – some foot blisters and a slightly inflamed tendon. Tomorrow, a visit to the pharmacy will be necessary to find something to calm it all, anti-inflammatory cream, straps, talc powder… we take everything!  Otherwise, morale is high, music and laughter.

X-Pyr  J+0   Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port

That’s it, here we are, this is the big day, this is the start of the X-Pyr from the beach …  Who says new day of champion says breakfast of champion, and for that nothing better than a good dose of scrambled egg with acoffee. We then pack up the camp, set the van in order and head for the beach, where the race starts. There we meet Antoine Doumenc and his daughter who came to support Thibault and watch the start of the race and the arrival at the first turnpoint. From the finish, we can feel a slight tension among the competitors, a slight stress, we check the instruments again, is everything going well? Do I have the right track to go to the first turnpoint 25km away? And on foot too? On our side, we are ready, all seems well. I take advantage of this wait to prepare the lunch, on the menu, wraps composed of fresh cheese, cucumber, apple, salad and smoked salmon. The last minutes pass, the countdown of the last seconds is launched and bim the departure is launched in the general euphoria, all the athletes leave at the race pace, and it is left for seven days of adventures & 605 km as the crow flies. But let’s start small, first stage, the 25km and its 800m of d+ to reach the first turnpoint. While Thomas leaves with Antoine to join the rack railway station (about 50 minutes away by car), allowing him to reach the summit without effort, I keep myself busy with the last preparations such as paying the campsite, filling the water tank of the van. Once ready, I go in pursuit of Thibault on the course to bring him the necessary assistance such as water, snacks and of course the musical presence. After about ten kilometres I find him and it goes on; like dance steps; the “I pass you, I find a car park, we wave and do it again”. The crucial moment arrives, I cannot go any further. We take the opportunity to make some changes to the equipment such as shoes and walking sticks and we go to meet Thomas & Antoine at the summit after 800m of d+. As for me, I’m going to wait in the North East of the place, just where -normally- I should more or less find Thibault & Thomas on the top after their glide. On my little car park in the shade of the trees, it’s time to get acquainted with the assistant of Édouard Potel who immediately catalogued me: I knew it was you who was coming just by the ear. 

Thibault takes off before Thomas and I find them in a garden, where more or less a dozen pilots have landed … the owners quite not too glad about those intrusions in their gardens. And so begins a second walk with Rémi Bourdelle towards Mount Errebi (582,7m). The opportunity to visit the picturesque village of Ainhoa all dressed in white and red. Thomas joins him for this climb while Rémi drops the watts on the way up. On my side I’m going to wait in Espellete, the occasion for a second picturesque visit but a little bit disappointed, it’s still all dressed in white & red, but they sell here all the victuals of the world … with chilli pepper of course. I pick up Thomas on the road while Thibault does a mini glide “Objectif Fougères” with Rémi. Second departure from Mount Atxulegi (616m). During a few minutes, the hope of a good flight is perhaps felt once the Mount Mondarrain is bypassed, but we face our biggest default to all: the lack of patience; and whereas some manage to get out of it to glide during some additional kilometres (not tens nevertheless…), we touch the ground in the surroundings of Itxassou. Thibault barely has time to fold his sail when we arrive and a team of X-Pyr Race reporters jump on him for an interview straight off.

A long walk begins with the objective to reach Saint Jean Pied-de-Port for the evening. I swap the accelerator and brake pedals for my trusty Vibram FiveFingers and walk with him. On the way we take the time to observe what the others are doing in front of us, some take the option of walking on the flat, others climb towards the south pillar of Baigura.  The latter option could take us 8 to 10km further, but this would mean having to do another 900m of d+. In view of the weather forecast for tomorrow, Monday, which is likely to be the same as today, we’ll stick to the first option; after all, we’re not Chamonix mountaineers; even if the possibility of climbing remains in mind until the last moment. After the last junction, the choice is definitively made, we swallow the kilometres one after the other at a good pace of 6,4 km per hour while having the opportunity to cross our goat fan club cheering us as we pass.  The hour turns, it’s slowly time to think about finding a better bivouac for the night. We find a good opportunity: a basic campsite -certainly- is located at good distance, which should make us close the day between 8:30pm and 9:00pm. The camp is set up nicely by Thomas, shaker of recovery swallowed by Thibault, position foot up to make go down the lactic acid (well, I believe) and on my side I take care of the meal. For this evening we will have on the menu rice with chicken, soy sauce marinade, fish, ginger and pan-fried small vegetables; onions, garlic, zucchini, eggplants, carrots and mushrooms. After a good shower, a moment of relaxation with chamomile tea and comforting chocolate helps us to think slowly about the next day. We have two options: go north towards the Chrigel Maureroption or continue south-east towards the Maxime Pinot option. No decision for this evening, it will be for tomorrow morning according to the evolution of the weather forecast confronted with the reality… Wake up at 6.15am, the coffeepots are ready, we go to sleep for a few hours, and hope for nice and pretty dreams.

Hondarribia, Espana

Wake up at 8:00 am and guess what?  It’s raining… First breakfast “as in a race”: banana, muesli, yoghurt and coffee to get into a good habit from the start. It’s still raining … time for me to switch to Vibram FiveFingersV-trek instead of V-Run, the holes are nice, it’s airy, but not very waterproof. Just to get going, to motivate ourselves, we take advantage of the hot showers of the campsite and then we leave for the first meeting of the day: the collection of X-Pyr “goodies”. Top Secret design cardboard, like children at Christmas, we tear off the tape that closes all that to discover a strange surprise … at registration we had to give the sizes of shoes, t-shirt, shorts so that the organization can prepare all that, and then … the sizes have neither tail nor head obviously. Small example, Thibault finds himself with a t-shirt size XL after a bit of bartering for an element or two, here we are with good sizes, even if some things look a bit doubtful. It’s still raining… An hour to kill before the official race briefing, we head for a small bar on the Place d’Armes for a cappuccino for some and hot chocolate for others. It’s raining … 11:00am rings, we go for the briefing, it promises to be long, Iñigo (the GO of the X-Pyr) tells us that English is not really his thing, but it’s going to be ok… let’s be patient. The different rules are reviewed, the obligations and duties for the pilot and his assistant, detailed review of the course and the different airspaces, etc … in short administrative part. Interesting reminder: this is a race that is not only won as a driver, but in teams with his or her assistants. Humorous point about the videos, don’t shoot vertical, shoot horizontal please. Humans are not Instagram.

We finish on the reception and control of the trackers. Phew, finally free. Casually it’s already 1:30 pm and breakfast is far away now. And guess what? It’s still raining… We headed for a small tapas restaurant in a hurry. Well … once we found one with space and dry.  All that’s left is for us to “keep busy” for the afternoon. After some food shopping to be autonomous for the next two days, we head to Decathlon for some additional accessories given the ambient humidity gloves, a third poncho and an umbrella come to join Thibault’s team while Thomas is already replacing his mattress which gave up the soul the first night. Back to the campsite to get back to the heart of the matter, to examine the different options for tomorrow according to the possible evolution of the weather, to check our communication elements such as Zello and XCTrack. It’s time for me to take advantage of this early evening to perform a very critical task: washing my hair … no idea when will be the next installation with shower & hot water to do this properly, believe me, it’s not with 30 litres of water for three that we get there.  This is followed by a relaxing evening over pizza so as not to think too much about tomorrow. It’s all very real now, so there’s no need to fill your head with details before going to sleep.  If you want to follow us, go to LiveTrack24: https://www.livetrack24.com/events/xpyr2022. Other tracking methods such as Flymaster or SportsTrackLiveare possible, you can find them directly on the X-Pyr website: https://x-pyr.com.

Last briefing tomorrow morning at 8.30am and then departure at 10am. And it’s always in the rain that we slip into our feathers.