Napoléon Road Trip - Four Days on the Road in France

It’s perhaps safe to say that most people who are not from France wouldn’t be able to plot the “Route Napolèon” on the map, right? Well, who better to help with that for the good of history and mountain biking, than two of the wildest French riders out there – Pierre-Edouard Ferry and Louis Reboul.

Tired of hearing about epic road trips overseas, it was time to put France and its wonderful riding terrain on the road trip map. Riders assemble to pick up the road trip wagon courtesy of Blacksheep in Lyon, photographer JB Liautard from Grenoble and then onto the RN85 otherwise known as the Route Napolèon.


First stop was the town of Gap to meet up with the Free Biking Crew and Mathias Wecxsteen Biking who maintain and ride this area. Once unlocked (it’s locked up when unused to keep out motorized vehicles) there’s both the excellent line of the natural land and a purpose built mixture of features, some in better condition than others, including old jumps, rickety bridge gaps and hip step-downs. There was a little work to do and the shovels came out pretty quick. Winter had not long passed so the ground was difficult in places but it was soon ready to roll and it was sure worth the effort!






Next stop on the route was Black Earth near Dignes-les-Bains, a magical natural freeride haven where lines are all but unlimited.



This huge playground has been ridden and captured many times before but the objective was to find new stuff and eventually the session commenced. Louis took a hefty crash following PEF in the dust and that left PEF together with JB to get some shots in the late afternoon sun. They turned out pretty damn good it seems. Another day needed to be spent here and so it was!



Lines were ready so it was straight out under dark, cloudy skies in the morning for COMMENCAL rider PEF but Louis sat it out following his crash the day before. Some more big names joined the crew - Antoine Bizet, Yannick Granieri, Romain Baghe along with Antoni Viloni who arrived the previous day.


With some seriously healthy competition, some serious style was about to go down. Two sessions followed, warming up with some simple, ‘classic’ lines and then time for some true freeriding, the Alpes de Hautes-Provence rolling on for miles in this part of untouched Black Earth.


The opportunity to hit three big features including a twenty metre table and a canyon gap were missed due to high winds so they are first on the list for next time but with another amazing day of crazy light, new lines, tons of dust and fun with friends, it was back on the road. One place that was a dead-cert to visit on the Route Napolèon was the Hips Park in Draguignan, the product of Julien Gerbino, a man who has been devoted to shaping this area for a some time. Needless to say, his creations are something that PEF was eager to get involved with again, having some fond memories of trips to the Haute-Vars region before. Together with the help of Stef and GuiGui, the park was redefined and ready to hit.

A couple of different aspects were involved – a Dirt bike style Hips park with fast flowing berms under old Oak trees and also some ‘quarry lines’, short trails which all finished with drops into the quarry itself.




The final day brought a completely new venue in Trigance. Julien from Hips told of this awesome place so there was the final destination, together with Julien in tow for guidance. If you don’t already know, the combination of mini lines, big drops and sandy soil is an excellent one. There was just time for some good shots and for Louis to have another slam, exhausted from four intense days of riding, shaping and wild camping!



Thanks to Mathias, Romain, Antoni, Julian, Stef, Guigui who welcomed the riders to their spots without hesitation.
Photos throughout by JB Liautard and Nico Brizin.

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