The Ultra philosophy at Gravel Fever 400, with Guillaume Mathis

A victim of hallucinations caused by profound fatigue and probably hypoglycemia, Guillaume Mathis abandoned the Ultra version of the Gravel Fever after 15 hours of effort. But the question we wanted to ask him was: what’s the point of riding for so many hours, suffering to such an extent, and putting oneself in such states? In fact, I don’t think there was a single participant in the Gravel Fever 400 who didn’t ask themselves this question during this unusual event on the weekend of October 20-21, 2023.

By Jean-François Tatard – Photos: All rights reserved

At first glance, it’s true that this kind of challenge doesn’t seem to have any fundamental practical utility or positive impact on the rest of humanity. But the individual I asked this question had time to regain his senses since his abandonment in the last part of the night. And this is an opportunity for us to share the incredible parallel Guillaume Mathis drew with what we experience in real life. Because yes, ultimately, life itself is an Ultra…

A Modified Perception of Time

Familiar with effort, even during his years of first-category road cycling, Guillaume Mathis had never been physically active for so long in one go. The event is long. 400 km on a bike is already a lot, but at the speed of a gravel bike in the forest when it’s been raining for a week and the temperature is so cold, it’s not just long. It’s extremely long. The duration of the race is so long that some of these ultra-brave participants even spend part of the second night out there. And in this context, Garmin indications and usual time markers lose their relevance. “You find yourself in a state where you have to manage your efforts by avoiding focusing on the passing of time. You have to prioritize managing your pain, sometimes extreme, fatigue, dwindling energy, diminishing food supply, but also the rain, mechanical problems, the environment, and the rough parts of the course. You have to stay connected to the present,” explains Guillaume Mathis. In short, you shouldn’t worry about what came before or what comes after. Questions like “why am I here?” or “how much longer do I have to ride?” are to be avoided. You must not let yourself be overwhelmed by the magnitude of the ordeal you’ve put yourself in. There’s a kind of time dilation compared to a normal daily situation. It was the first time Guillaume had experienced this. “When you’re feeling that bad, time seems infinite.” Moreover, exhausted after a sleepless night and worn out by fatigue, Guillaume experienced for the first time the famous symptoms of hallucinations that ultra-adventurers sometimes encounter. A situation that could have put him in even greater danger. “On a descent, I saw stones moving and I also thought I was being attacked by critters. I saw people. I thought they were going to help me, but in fact, they were trees.”

Total Immersion

Nevertheless, Guillaume Mathis experienced the event coordinated by Jean-Christophe Savignoni as a true spatiotemporal bubble. It was effectively supervised by an organization including security, assistance, and refueling, but the experience is radical. You are in direct contact with emotions. From joy to anger, passing through fear, sadness, disgust, and surprise, on this precisely defined route between Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines and Châtellerault, Guillaume experienced everything. And in an amplified way. And by confronting nature, time, extreme fatigue, and pain, it was ultimately deep within himself, in the manner of a Mike Horn, what he had come to seek. “This intensity is difficult to describe,” he immediately reported to us. And it was this timeless moment that this manager of a large electric bike store came to seek.

At work, for example, do you also send emails that no one replies to? What impact do your actions or those of your company have? Have you ever asked yourself this question? Perhaps your company is depleting natural resources without truly improving society? And you, perhaps you’re running around everywhere, but your tasks are still piling up? Our era resembles a mad race. It’s a constant time trial. Everything is always faster: work, school, media, communication, consumption. The phenomenon of acceleration affects all areas, to the point that we feel disconnected from our own lives. Rare are the moments when we are both actors and receivers and in perfect harmony with our environment. What recent opportunities have you had to truly reflect? Take a break! Take your Friday off and reconnect with yourself!

This is what Guillaume experienced between the afternoon of Friday, October 20, and that of Saturday, October 21. A dynamic, reciprocal, and emotional relationship with the environment. During this event, every pedal stroke, every rut, every climb, every descent, every cobblestone, was perceived by Guillaume as a way to reconnect and feel alive. More than the sensation of inhabiting his body, the impression of finally inhabiting his life. An opportunity for intense self-awareness. An opportunity to reinvent himself, to deepen his understanding of himself a little more, and to reconnect with the feeling of being alive.

Every Sunday evening since I was a teenager, I have a strange habit of summarizing my week with a quote I borrow here and there. Never the same one. Well, this time, I waited for Guillaume to ride 270 of the 400 km of the Ultra Gravel Fever (408 to be precise) for him to offer me this one: “at night in the middle of the forest, nothing matters more than the next kilometer I will ride.”

In a challenge like this, our frame of reference is completely disrupted. It’s very extreme. Guillaume experienced a true break with his limits and as a gift: he emerged with a new version of himself. Indeed, faced with the demands it makes, one transforms. It’s fascinating to see how in practice one is capable of adapting so much. It’s not just physical. It’s mostly mental. It’s a valuable experience and the only way to acquire it was indeed to go and seek it…

It’s still early to talk about it, but I believe that for Guillaume Mathis, his relationship with the world, with others, and with himself will change a little after this. This experience will probably further modify the meaning of his priorities. I don’t know how long it will last, but during these fifteen extreme hours, his emotions manifested with an intensity rarely equaled in his daily routine.

In endurance sports, this kind of ultra-event can, I think, thus be a unique opportunity to face an emotional intensity that reflects the complexity of human nature. Every hitch, every complication, every danger, every difficulty, every embarrassment, every impediment, every hindrance, every discomfort, every opposition, every stone, every root, every rut, every climb, every descent, every mud puddle, every obstacle, every kind of resistance, can symbolize the reality of real life and its challenges.

Finally, avoiding friction, seeking comfort, not putting oneself in danger. This seems rational but it furiously resembles death. Thus, by confronting his amplified emotions with this extreme effort in this way, this ultra biker curiously experienced a rare form of freedom. Also, the opportunity to regain control of himself and what is truly most important to him.

Be careful, I didn’t say that sport was what was most important to him. And even less sport pushed to such an extreme. But life is short, and this event was just a formidable tool and a fabulous way for Guillaume to remind us how urgent it is to enjoy every minute and the small joys of life. Because real life is precisely in the present moment, and not in the nostalgia of the past or in the fear of the future.

=> Gravel Fever: The results

And after that, even if he missed the final accomplishment of reaching the Manu de Châtellerault, we still wanted to thank and congratulate Guillaume Mathis for the philosophical and existential message he sent us this weekend of October 21, 2023. And we also wanted to congratulate all the participants and all the organizers as well as all the volunteers of the Gravel Fever Festival for the good idea they had to contribute to making this event so magical.

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