My year in sport 2023
The year 2023 is ending. On a sporting level, I had ups and downs.
The first six months were difficult with the preparation for the Race Across France 300 kilometers which plunged me into a state of chronic fatigue. I didn't have a precise diagnosis but all the symptoms of RED-S syndrome undoubtedly due to overtraining and very bad nights with little sleep.
The second part of the year, after the event had passed, was much nicer and full of adventures.
Let's go back in detail but especially in photos over the last 12 months.
Story
January
The nights are long and I no longer see sunrises at this time of year. I still have fun trying myself at light painting in the forest. The animals watching me must be laughing.
I've been tempted by a tour of Toulouse for several years. I jumped at an opportunity to bring the first micro adventure of the year to life. I have to go to work at a colleague house who lives on the other side of Toulouse and I don't have a car available. I leave at 5:30 AM to start to work at 9 AM via the south of Toulouse, then I return via the north of Toulouse at the end of the day. It makes a nice 125 km loop. My first Gran Fondo of the year.
The year is on a good track with already 150 kilometers of running. Hope it lasts.
February
The sunny days are coming back, it’s more pleasant to cycle. I discover the north-east of Toulouse with Maxence.
We're going to the Netherlands for the weekend. It’s quite an adventure to take the plane for the first time with the 3 children. I'm trying one of the netherlands national sport: crossing canals. Not having a pole on hand, I jump over it.
March
I continue to marvel at the wide open spaces of the Gers. Fields as far as the eye can see, it’s a delight.
The northern part of the Bouconne forest is a little too far for my weekly jogging. I take the car to explore these new trails.
At night I meet lots of salamanders in the forest.
We are organizing a weekend in the Pyrenees with Clément to climb the "plateau de Beille". The wind is violent and the descent is perilous but we manage to stay on the bike. My drone will not emerge victorious from this storm and will not be able to return to me. I still had time to download this last photo in these hairpin bends before it got too far away. Thank you for your good and loyal services.
The next day I get up before dawn to climb the mountain. I hadn't planned to go running so I don’t have my headlamp. I run with my bike lamp in hand and wear smooth sneakers with no grip. It rained, it's climbing, the ground is wet and slippery. I take 600 meters D+ in less than 5 kilometers with slopes of 25%. My cardio is going crazy and I am unable to keep up the entire climb. I slip downhill but I enjoy it. The following days, I felt my lack of muscle. My thighs are destroyed and I walk and squat with pain.
I take advantage of the days that are getting longer to run in the morning. It's nice to run at dawn and see beautiful colors in the sky again after this long winter where I've never done so much sport at night. Unfortunately it doesn't last and, a few days later, the switch to summer time plunges me back into darkness.
Before my parents in-laws move out, I run one last time on my favorite trails that I followed for 2 years when I lived in Dordogne. I am nostalgic.
April
I still have an opportunity to go to a work seminar by bike. I love the feeling of going to work by bike, even more when everyone else is traveling by car. The Gers once again offers me magnificent landscapes and a beautiful sunrise.
I'm having a lot of mechanical issues with my gravel bike. The Triban GRVL 120 was a good bike for me a year ago but I am frustrated and feel like it is handicapping me when riding. I registered for the Race Across France 300 kilometers in June and I would never make it to the end with this bike. With great regret I sell it and move upwards. I bought an Origine Graax, which is a carbon gravel bike but is versatile. It’s made in Franc. I choose this model more to be comfortable on long road trips but also for its numerous grip points on the frame. I'm not looking for performance.
After receiving my new bike a few days earlier, I am undertaking my first big trip in a while. I leave before 3 AM to go to my parents house 170 km away. The sensations are not good, the bike is not well adjusted and I have pain. My GPS watch crashes and makes me lose more than an hour. I haven't yet put SPD cleats under my new cycling shoes and the sole, which is too rigid, is unsuitable for my flat pedals. My foot can't stay in place... I had planned several routes but the first choice, which included a big detour with a big pass to cross (the Pic de Nore) is not feasible in these conditions. I fall back on my backup plan.
I'm running with Daisy again. It’s been a very long time and she’s delighted!
Yet another opportunity to take a tour of Toulouse to go to work at Xavier. Clockwise this time.
A few days later, I go to my parents in-laws' home. Halfway through, it starts to rain a lot. I'm completely soaked and cold. But still around fifty kilometers left to go. One of my tires is flat. My emergency inner-tube, which was new, does not inflate. Impossible to repair with my self-adhesive patches because of the humidity. Noushka, who was on the road in the car with the children 20 minutes away, comes to pick me up. First abandon that mentally hurts.
In addition to this failure, my cell phone took on water while making calls during my repair attempt. It no longer charges. Same result for main lamp. During a stop for food, I made the mistake of recharging my GPS watch with it and it took on water. Black day to forget.
.
A week later, another attempt to go to my parents, by the south this time.
After my last unfortunate ride, I brought 4 spare inner tubes to be safe. Unfortunately I burst several times and I waste inner tubes by pinching because of my tire is tubeless and not easy to put it back. My rim tape is also very damaged. I lost a lot of time and after a third puncture, as the afternoon drew to a close, I’m forced to give up a second time and ask my father to come to pick me up.
May
After these incidents, I give up with inner tubes and decide to try full tubeless. The rim tape is in catastrophic condition. I do it again. However, it is just 1 month old and was fitted by Origine when I purchased my bike. But my tire is punctured by the numerous punctures and the fluid is having difficulty sealing properly. it leaks regularly and the tire does not maintain pressure. I'm very scared because the next day I have a big adventure planned, at night...
We go to Bédarieux with Clément after work, near Béziers, with his car and we plan to return to Toulouse by bike during the night. We have to be back by 6 AM the next day because he is leaving with his family to take the train for a several-day cycling trip. We leave Bédarieux at 8 PM and arrive at 5:30 AM. We barely did it! With the adrenaline I had very good feelings on the bike. With the cold the tubeless sealed well and I didn't need to stop for a mechanical problem. However, I had to re-inflate several times during the day and just before departure.
I try to accumulate elevation gain and reach 2000 meters of elevation gain over 60 kilometers by doing the hamster on a 1 kilometer climb and 100 meters of elevation gain.
I finally decide to do a postural study and took the opportunity to mount my new Fizik Vento Argo saddle. Unfortunately it doesn't magically solve all my problems. I have pain behind my right leg and I have to lower the saddle several times during the ride, which calls into question the usefulness of this study. I feel like I have less irritation with this saddle but despite its 3D printed covering, I'm not super comfortable on it. My cyst under my ischium is still growing despite a week of rest. This is worrying for the Race Across France in a month.
Fortunately, to cheer me up, I pass beside the Peyssies lake during sunrise and I enjoy.June
On June 1st, less than a month before the Race Across France, I finally decided to change my tires because the tubeless fluid leaks randomly between or during rides. I try to do the assembly myself but without a compressor I can't make the tires slam and seal. I tried several techniques for 3 hours but nothing worked. I find myself having to go to the nearest Decathlon to ask them to do the assembly.
For the first time I passed the 200 kilometers mark on an ride. 2700 D+ over 220 kilometers is encouraging on the one hand but scary on the other hand because at the end of the month I have to face the 6600D+ over 300km of the Race Across France.
However, my cyst under my ischion is still there and these many long rides have made it bigger. I had planned a shock weekend if all went well because my wife and children are not there but I have no other choice than to run instead on Sunday.
I’m not in great shape but instead of resting I run because I can’t ride and I even add interval sessions, which is not my habit. Instead of making myself progress I get more and more tired.
I'm riding another big tour of Toulouse to go work at Joris home.
June 17, 10 days from the Race Across France, nothing is going well. I'm shaking all night because of a fever but I'm still going to make my planned outing the next morning. It's not very productive and I have no energy. I shorten the ride after 100km.
I'm just going to a seminar in the Gers for work the following week.
I've been suffering from severe chronic fatigue for a month, I've been getting sick repeatedly and my cyst under my ischium has forced me to change settings on my bike on every ride. My body seems to be on pause. My 3 children take all my energy and I sleep very poorly. However on June 30 at 9:11 PM, I take the departure for the Race Across France 300 kilometers. I finish in pain with a loose knee which prevents me from pedaling. Aside from the first few hours with the euphoria of departure, I didn't have much fun. With the pressure of time barriers, I didn't even take the time to take beautiful photos or take off the drone as I like to do. This event will undoubtedly be the last for a long time. This confirms what I have experienced in other events such as marathons. Organized events are not for me. I prefer to create my own challenges, create my own route, have the impression to be privileged living in the moment, taking the time to stop in front of beautiful landscapes to pose the tripod or take off the drone.
July
10 jours plus tard, je retrouve un peu d’énergie et je reprends plaisir à explorer sans pression avec mes baskets que j’avais malheureusement mis un peu de côté ces derniers mois. C’est au tour du vélo de prendre un peu de repos.
10 days later, I gain a little energy and I enjoy exploring with my sneakers without pressure.
August
Maxence tells me about Stats Hunters. I discovered it a few years ago when I tested all the extensions for Strava and I preferred to keep only one at the time to favor Elevate. At that time, I was cycling a lot less and I hadn't seen the potential. But I rediscovered the squares originally imagined by the VeloViewer site. The concept is simple: The world is divided into 1.6 kilometer (1 mile) squares. Each time a Strava activity passes through a square, it is colored red (a tile). A square turns green when it is surrounded (top, bottom, left and right) by other squares. The green area is called the cluster. The blue area is the largest square in the cluster.
This rediscovery makes me want to get on my bike again to discover new roads. Exploration then enters a new dimension. I have a passion for hunting squares.
Very quickly, I filled the few holes which allowed me to enlarge my Toulouse cluster and transfer my big square around my home, increasing to 14 squares.
I do gravel with my road tires because only trails cross certain areas of the Gers. I continue to want to expand my territory.
We found an opportunity to go on a ride with my father in Minervois. It's nice to see new landscapes.
Daisy is also delighted to be able to go with me to the Conilhac ridges.
I'm also going to run with Hugo and Simon for the first time in the forest.
September
I am enjoying riding at night again and having the privilege of enjoying wonderful sunrises. I start to take the car to ride further away from my home. I get up at 4 AM to start at 5 AM and be home for lunch.
I'm buying a new, very compact and light drone that I could take with me more often on bike rides. Only this drone doesn't have GPS and I'm trying it for the first time during a sunrise. It is still too dark for the sensors and the drone cannot find its way. He drifts and I run to look for him in a field of mud. Fortunately I managed to catch it up on time (The strong wind carried away my DJI mini in April in the Pyrenees, see April 2023). Once I understood the strength of this new drone, I have a lot of fun with it. Even though the quality is lower, I don't need a remote control and it can follow me to make videos.
At the end of September, I carried out one of my biggest adventures of the year. My company is organizing a 3-day seminar north of Montpellier. The last three were less than 100 km from home so I was able to get there by bike but this time it’s more than 300 kilometers. After a lot of hesitation I decide to go there by bike because the opportunity will probably never come again and I'm afraid of regretting it. I'm taking a day off to tackle this challenge. I still take the train from the east of Toulouse to avoid crossing the city that I know by heart. I ride 160 kilometers the first day and 100 km the next morning to arrive at the seminar location at noon like all my other colleagues. I'm sick like never but I'm happy to have succeeded in my journey.
October
October starts well with a new challenge: 200km with an arrival on Saturday lunchtime for a family meal. I leave at 1:40 AM. It's -4° during the night and it's starting to be a little too cold for my poor hands and feet, which are very sensitive to the cold because of Raynaud's syndrome. I finish this great adventure of 200 kilometers and 2300 D+ in good shape but with a lot of pain in my right knee. I tried several times to put the saddle up but it wasn't enough.
I run again on my favorite Bouconne forest trails in the south.
I take Charline by train to Moissac so she can spend a few days with her grandparents and I go home riding by bike.
We are spending a few days in the Netherlands with the children to visit family-in-law. The opportunity to create a small cluster around The Hague (Den Haag) and have a great first outing with Mathieu. And thanks to Vera for the loan of her Triban bike which rode well!
November
During the week, I no longer have the time or the opportunity to ride during the week so I stay in shape by running.
I take the car more often, even if only for 30 minutes, and extend my exploration map. The routes are often a headache to fill all the gaps while making an uninterrupted loop.
With the cold, I ride in the afternoon until nightfall, which allows me to observe magnificent sunsets over the Pyrenees.
December
Another great ride to extend my big square to the northwest. Departure from Saint-Sauvy, it begins to be the deep countryside. Sometimes there is only one road that crosses the tiles, sometimes none. I take trails but at this time of year it doesn't work as well as it did a few months ago. Everything is soaked and I'm stuck in the mud with non-existent grip on my road tires. You can see in the first photo that the mud is well on the rims but I managed to clean most of it by riding in the water along the roads.
Another good opportunity to discover new landscapes. We are planning our one and only weekend just the two of us, without the children, in Albi. Arrived with the rain but with a good sausage aligot upon arrival at the Albi Christmas market which felt good.
I run less and less at night because the children wake up early and in a bad mood most of the time so I prefer to be present to manage as much as possible. So I run quickly after taking the boys to the nanny and Charline to school, before starting work.
First time in a long time, as my wife was often absent in the evening during the week, she encouraged me to go for two bike rides during the weekend to recharge my batteries. I fill all the missing squares in the south.
To finish the year well, the ultimate challenge is to join my clusters in Toulouse and Dordogne, starting from Valence d’Agen to Monflanquin.
On the left, my tiles as of January 1, on the right my squares as of December 31. I am delighted.
Stats
Running
| Year | Distance (kilometers) | Elevation (meters) | Time (hours) | Count |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 1035 | 8.690 | 92 | 90 |
| 2022 | 1300 | 19.860 | 113 | 113 |
| Δ | - 265 | - 11.170 | - 21 | - 23 |
I did not manage to maintain the 100 kilometers per month average that I had set for myself to achieve at least 1200 kilometers in 2023 but I had to reduce the volume for several months to prepare for the Race Across France 300 kilometers and take the time to recover. I also had a lot of pain in my knees, front and back, following poor adjustments on too long bike rides, which pushed me to increase the rest days.
I still managed to maintain a certain regularity and overpassing the 1000 kilometer mark is a great success. After a 2021 year away from the trails where I had only run 580 kilometers, I am resigning immediately if I manage to maintain this pace for the next few years.
Cycling
| Year | Distance (kilometers) | Elevation (meters) | Times (hours) | Count |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 6.913 | 80.417 | 305 | 136 |
| 2022 | 2.103 | 22.255 | 105 | 72 |
| Δ | + 4.810 | + 57.162 | + 200 | + 64 |
2023 will have been a year focused on cycling more than any other. I rode like never before and I broke all the counters and records of my previous years. More than 7000 kilometers if I count the hundred kilometers on the home trainer.
Conclusion
The 2023 results are super positive.
No crazy running but I still managed to maintain regularity and had fun in the local forest.
Thanks to cycling, 2023 is one of my best sporting years. A year filled with micro adventures. Riding a lot at night obviously contributed to this as night life is unique in terms of sensations and feelings.
The Race Across France 300 kilometers will remain among painful memories. A mixture of overtraining and stress coupled with very bad nights dragged me into a RED-S syndrome where my body was in energy saving mode for more than a month and a half and especially at the time of departure: Severe fatigue chronic from morning to evening, deficient immune system with repeated illnesses and infections (cyst under the ischium). Registering with a 2 year old girl and 2x6 month old boys in November 2022 was probably a little too ambitious too. I was also completely disconnected from what 300 kilometers represented and it was also stupid to think that I could finish with my current bike at this time, a low-end gravel bike.
Over the months, the stress of not succeeding in this challenge will have at least served to better equip myself in all areas. I would never have bought such a well-equipped bike if I hadn't been afraid of failing at this event. I would never have been able to do all this with my old low-end bike, the Triban Grvl 120. On each ride I encountered a problem and I had to consume a lot of energy to move forward compared to my new bike. With my Origine Graax I enjoy a lot more. I have also invested much better to face the night (good headlamp that attaches to the helmet, powerful bicycle jamp with good battery life, reflective vest, luminous SPD pedals, etc.) the cold, the rain (waterproof shoe covers, shakedry jacket) and long distances (Tailfin rack which does not shake around like a bikepacking bag and allows easy access to all the elements).
Despite this mixed first half of the year, I only remember the positive. The second half of the year was amazing for me and made me move on. I rediscovered the pleasure of cycling by creating my own challenges, my own routes.
But the thing that makes me happy is to be driven by this new mission which is squares hunting. It obsesses me and I only think about it. I always plan several routes in advance for the coming weeks. I look at my territory several times a day with the desire to explore where I have never been. I go on a mission on each ride to expand my territory. My greatest pride at the end of the year is to have managed to bring together my Toulouse and Dordogne clusters. In 2024, I would also try to join my Aude cluster but it will not be as simple because the opportunities are fewer.
Organized events are definitely not for me. I need freedom and to feel privileged. Being alone on the road, taking the time to stop to take beautiful photos, enjoying the sunrises and sunsets, experiencing adventures.
The best thing I can wish for myself for the year 2024 is to still experience lots of micro adventures to fill my head with good vibes and wonderful memories.