Maël Féron is the guest on En Roue Libre Podcast
Episode in French.
Maël Féron is an enduro mountain bike racer and an engineering student in Strasbourg.
What on earth was he thinking? That’s the question you might ask yourself when you watch the documentary Mégavalanche Up & Down, in which Maël rides up the course of the Alpe d’Huez Mégavalanche from Allemond to the Pic Blanc by headlamp, before taking the start and finishing 4th in the race.
And if you think Maël is a bit crazy, you’re way off the mark. Because this 21-year-old engineering student has a better head on his shoulders than I did at his age, and he thought things through carefully before launching into this project, even if he readily admits to having cultivated a certain ignorance to pull off the challenge.
And you’ll see that he has a clear plan, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see him take on other projects of the same kind soon.
In this episode, expect to discover:
– Why Maël decided to leave cross-country for enduro, and how he managed to cause a surprise in his first races.
– His account of the attempted Tour du Mont Blanc with Jules Auroux, which laid the groundwork for what came next.
– Where the idea for the Mégavalanche Up & Down challenge came from.
– How he experienced, from the inside, that 2,800 m climb up to the Pic Blanc at Alpe d’Huez, and above all how he managed to finish 4th behind Alex Rudeau and ahead of a certain Kilian Bron.
– The behind-the-scenes of his physical preparation to keep up with Damien Oton and Kilian Bron, and the mystery of his state of flow during the race.
– How he balances engineering school and his sport, and his advice for students who want to perform in both their studies and sport.
– And plenty of other things.
Episode chapters
00:00 Intro
04:36 Riding up the Maïdo
06:090 The Mégavalanche Up & Down documentary
08:03 What was going through his head?
10:280 The physical side
13:31 Introducing Maël
17:30 First enduro races
22:43 The Tour du Mont Blanc
31:19 Mégavalanche Up & Down
45:25 The race
58:04 His gear
01:01:02 How he combines studies and sport
01:04:22 His passion for video
01:07:34 After school
01:08:48 His dream
01:11:28 His sponsors
01:14:54 His Mégavalanche in Réunion
01:15:58 What the Mégavalanche means to him
01:17:23 Should you do the Réunion Méga?
01:18:00 What we can wish him for the future?
01:18:25 A next guest?
01:20:19 A final word?
01:21:10 My final word
01:24:09 Thank you
01:25:01 Thanks to the Case Bambou
01:25:35 Thanks to the UCC and the Enduro Marinès for the invitation
01:26:26 Thanks to the locals!
Episode links: The Tour du Mont Blanc documentary https://youtu.be/Md8fGCz_KWs?si=3PUr3bq874YcnR-Z
Mégavalanche Up & Down https://youtu.be/Q-A-4p0_WtM?si=EVQiHiwrAQsEtKaM
Robin Challamel’s Tour du Mont Blanc record:
https://www.chamonix.net/francais/actualite/robin-challamel-encore-un-nouveau-record-du-tmb-en-vtt-14h44m
This episode of En Roue Libre is supported by Shifter, the all-in-one solution for managing bike shops.
Thanks to the UCC, organiser of the Réunion Mégavalanche, and to Florent Payet and the Enduro Marinès team for making this episode possible.
En Roue Libre on the web:
Support En Roue Libre’s work on Tipeee: tipeee.com/enrouelibre
Subscribe to the En Roue Libre newsletter here: bit.ly/newsletterEnRoueLibre
Follow En Roue Libre on Instagram: instagram.com/enrouelibremedia/
Follow me on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/taillo/
Visit enrouelibre.cc
And to give your communication a boost, call on LINE by booking a call with me directly at agenceline.fr
