Further in the Pyrénées in 2024 will be different.
FURTHER PERSEVERANCE will become FURTHER LE CHEMIN ( DE LA LIBERTE )
It is not just a name change, it is also the distance. 1000 km ( approx ) compared to the old distance of 500 ( approx ).
Think of it as FURTHER v2. Not better, just different.*
West to East.
The event will move away from the loop idea.
The start is Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port.
The finish is PROVISIONALLYLa Franqui
start will be aprox 1000 kilometers from the finish.
FURTHER LE CHEMIN ( DE LA LIBERTE ) runs from one end of the Pyrénées to the other end. I have the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao as the start and Fitou, La Franqui as the finish penciled down. This could change.
Some need a clear, bread crumb route, a need to know far in advance what the route will be. This event will not be for them. I have a good outline of where I wish the riders to go, although some things will change due to weather or infrastructure. Or the race director ( me ) finding something new he needs to put into the event. I hope after 5 successful years, the idea of an adventure and the unknown route is something everyone will embrace.
The refuge at Rhule will be a checkpoint.
There will be Sectors and there will be night curfews.
It will have tarmac and Hike-a-bike, everything in between. Like always, I will not say it is a MTB event, although I am sure most will ride MTB.
I have called this event the FURTHER LE CHEMIN ( DE LA LIBERTE ) because I have become more and more fascinated with the routes that cross the borders of the Pyrénées, on which many people escaped persecution.
Camille
*If anyone is interested in doing the PERSERVERENCE as a Fastest Known Time, please let me know.
