As a first diagonale, I choseto ride Menton-Hendaye.Menton is the nearest town from my home and this diagonale isthe shortest : 900 kms. First Istudied the road on the map and I tested it during my travels to do the rides Bordeaux-Sete andBordeaux-Paris at the beginningof the season. My first wish wasto do Montpellier-Hendaye viaToulouse but the road wasdifficult though pretty. I preferedto ride a longer route, in thesouth, passing by Carcassonne,Foix and Pau.

I decided to start this ride atthe beginning of September. Atthat time of the year, days areshort and lights are necessary. Ihad one Union generator, twolights using batteries and threeback lights. Mark Trigg told meonce, “Your bike looks like aChristmas tree!” I brought a gazstove to have hot coffee duringthe night or early in the morning. I had also mudguards and threepaniers.

I started on Monday Sept-ember 4th from Menton. I wentto the police to collect the firststamp and I left this town withits casinos and big cars. Thismoment was enjoyable, the seawas on my left and I couldglimpse ships with lights. I reallyenjoyed La Corniche de L’Esterel, just before Frejus, with abeautiful contrast between redrocks and blue sea. When I leftthe coast, I met the wind. It wascoming from the north anddehydrated me. I had to deal with it during the whole day.Sometimes, it decreased andclouds appeared in the sky. Thetraffic was light due todemonstrations in servicestations (no petrol available!).The afternoon was difficultbecause of the warmth and theterrible wind coming from myright. I reached Salon deProvence at 08 :00pm and I atea Pizza before finishing this firststage in Arles. I left Salon at09:30pm and saw a beautifulmoon growing in the sky. Iarrived just before midnight inArles after riding 314 kms.

I slept in an hostelfor 4 hours. I really enjoyed thisrest and the shower before thesecond stage. I started early inthe morning using my lights to

see the road. The wind was lessstrong than the day before.Around Montpellier, until Meze,the ride was great: The sea wasagain on my left, and the wind in my back! As soon as I left Meze,I found again the wind in myface until Carcassonne. Just afterBeziers, I ate in a little village(Montady) where I talked to awine grower. Two weeks beforehe met an old man ridingHendaye-Menton. He explainedto me how the wine was grownand, yes, the season was good !

This second afternoon wasstill difficult. Carcassonne, the

capital of Cathare’s castles wasnot the end of the second stage.I ate a little before going on with the ride. In the evening, the road changed, climbs and descentsappeared and the wind gave up.After Fanjeaux with a good climb but a nice view on the valley atsunset, Mirepoix with the central food market, I arrived in Foix atmidinight after riding 312 kms.Again I slept 4 hours, and started early in the morning afterdrinking two large coffees.

I climbed Col DelBouich before entering a thickfog for 30 kms. My bike, myclothes were wet, but later in the morning, I arrived in Saint Girons where I could admire Pyrénées.At midday, I was eating twopizza portions in front of abaker’s shop when an oldwoman came to me and offeredme a Pain au Chocolat. I wasembarrassed but she wouldn’ttake no for an answer. After theDiagonale I contacted her tothank her. In the afternoon, Iwent through Mauvezin where Isaw the Pic du Midi for the first

time. Pyrénées mountains werebeautiful and the wind hadtotally disappeared. After Lestelle Betharam and the little churchesin the mountains, I arrived in Pau at 09:00pm.

At this time, I hadabout twelve hours left tocomplete the ride. I prefered notto sleep and to ride in the nightas much as I could. Thus I wouldhave time in case of punctures or tiredness… I ate pasta in Pau and went on with the ride. Trafficwas light because a large

motorway was beside my road.Midnight, two in the morning,and still the visibility of the roadwas good due to my lightsystem. I arrived in Bayonne at06:00am, took a large coffeeand went on my route. After thewarmth, the wind, the night, thefog, the rain appeared for a longquarter of an hour.

Never mind, I was very closeto the end. Traffic increasedbecause it was the beginning ofthe day and I realized the lastkilometers would be hard. Goodclimbs, long descents, very goodclimbs to arrive where? I wasclose to the sea, near anotherFrench border, in a city calledHendaye. It was 08:00am, Ilooked for and entered into thepolice station. The policemanwas amazed to see me. I realized how I was stinking! “Where doyou come from ? Did you ride all night long?” Only one policeman knew what a Diagonale was. Iobtained the last stamp after 374 kms without sleeping and askedwhere the railway station was. Icame back home by via Toulouse and Valence. In Valence, trainswere not available due toanother demonstration. I tookagain to my bike, began to ridetowards Grenoble and my wifepicked me up 90 kms fromhome…

I wrote to the oldwoman and to the organizersbecause a Diagonale is validatedif you write a story about it.

As a conclusion, Menton–Hendaye is perhaps shortcompared to the other ones butdifficult. During a Diagonale, you can sleep during nights but youhave to ride whatever theweather. When a frenchDiagonale is completed, you areallowed to ride EuropeanDiagonales, another challenge ofthe FFCT with longer times…

45ARRIVEE Winter 2001

What is a Diagonale ?The French organization for cycling, FFCT, proposes permanent

rides between six towns located at the French border : Dunkerque,Strasbourg, Menton, Perpignan, Hendaye and Brest. There are 9diagonales because you can’t link towns which are near one to the other. You must complete these rides in a given time (77 hours for950 kms for example). The route isn’t imposed, you propose yourown route to the organizer by setting control steps every 100kms.At each control step, you have to collect a stamp in a shop. Startand finish controls must be done in the police station. When youfinish the diagonale, you send your route book to the organizers inorder to validate the ride. If you have to respect the control timeduring PBP, during a diagonale, there is no closing time for controlsteps. You must do one of these rides on your own or with fiveriders maximum. Pace cars are not allowed.

Menton to HendayeJean-Philippe Battu, seen here at PBP 1999, rides