Day breaks over the Divide. Montana dust clings to the sun's low rays, the trail stretches like a pale scar amidst the mountains.tagnes. Two figures advance in silence, side by side. One knows exactly where she puts her wheels. The other is learning to read the world. Axel Carion and Greg have been riding since dawn. Their shadows lengthen on the trail like two parallel lines: the first, straight, sure, that of experience; the second, hesitant, that of discovery. Canada is already far behind them. Ahead, Mexico. Between the two, 4400 kilometers of altitude, cold, heat, and dust: the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route.
By Jeff Tatard – Photos: DR
We spoke to Axel on the phone this Sunday evening in October, the day before a new BikingMan in Brazil. He spoke quickly. Not a nervous speed: a clarity of mind. The words came with the precision of someone who has seen and understood a lot. He was not trying to convince; he wastageat.
« Repeating the same experience is a mistake. The second time, the real victory is fromtagst. » That's exactly what he did on the Divide: come back to transmit.
The professional and the novice
Axel Carion is not a fan of challenges. He is their architect.. Founder of BikingMan, he knows fatigue, solitude, mechanics, logistics, doubt, and risk management. It's his job. At his side, Greg, a novice. He had never experienced an expedition of this magnitude. Between them, there is this difference in density that makes the duo exciting: mastery on one side, discovery on the other.
Axel takes care of everything: navigation, strategy, tempo, safety. But he doesn't make it a burden. For him, it's natural. When you are in control, you are not crushed by responsibility, you are liberated by it. "He knows what he's doing, and it's this quiet certainty that allows Greg to let himself be guided.
On route, he observes, learns, imitates. Axel doesn't talk much. He shows. He gives confidence without promise. Between them, the bond is woven without words. Silence is our true connection. When you no longer need to talk to move forward together, you're in the right place. »
The endless days
Days on the Divide begin before lightThe cold is still bitter, numb fingers struggle to take down the tent. Coffee heats on the stove, smelling of metal and dust. At six o'clock, they are already on the trail.
Fifteen-hour days. An average of ten and a half hours on the bike. Barely five hours of sleep. Axel manages like a watchmaker. He knows how to pace himself, anticipate, and repair. Not an ounce of panic, never a wasted gesture. He talks about pain as a given, not a tragedy. You welcome pain, you read it, you integrate it. It's information. »
In the evening, when the light falls, they stop. No hotel, no comfort. Just the thin canvas of the tent, the repetitive movements of the bivouac. The sounds of the wind, the insects, sometimes an animal they don't see. Silence returns, even denser. And in this silence, a rare peace.
Father
When we talk to him about this taste of route, it doesn't go back to America or to the bicycle. It goes back to childhood. In the Carion household, there were six of them: three brothers, three sisters. A living house, voices, movement. His father didn't impose anything. He opened. " He didn't teach me to conquer, he taught me to explore. And exploring isn't about taking, it's about understanding. »
He pauses. I never really thanked him for that. »
From this education, he keeps one principle: permissionNot in the sense of laxity, but of trust. The kind you give to someone you know is capable of trying. It is this freedom that he is transmitting today.
The wife and the son
When he talks about his wife, the speed of his voice changesThe precision remains, but the tone becomes softer. She understands that every departure is a part of me. She doesn't try to hold me back; she helps me come back. "And then he mentions their son. Eighteen months old." That's the best part. It's not a reason to stop leaving. It's a reason to come back better. »
He who spent months riding alone now sees the route differentlyFatherhood didn't hold back the explorer. It gave him direction. I want him to see the world in a different way than through a screen. »
Reality versus the speed of the world
The word real comes up oftenAxel isn't against technology. He uses it, understands it, and teaches it. But he knows its limits. We are connected to everything except ourselves. "For him, the expedition is a form of gentle resistance. A way of reminding us that to live is to feel. The wind, the cold, the hunger, the fatigue: reality, in all its texture." You can't tell everything. You have to live. »
The wind, the cold, the hunger, the fatigue: reality, in all its texture. You can't tell everything. You have to live. »
When it rolls, it cuts everythingNo phone, no network. The world is reduced to breathing, the sound of the chain, the horizon. It's a physical disconnection, but above all a mental one. A discipline.
Ego and measurement
His relationship to the ego is disarmingly lucid.. " Ego is what gets you going. But if you let it drive, you get lost. "This is not a moral speech. It is an observation." The montagne, he says, Don't congratulate yourself. She either accepts you or ignores you. »
There is no podium on the Divide. No spectators. No applause. Numbers don't tell the story. What matters is the invisible trace. » He owes this precision to his profession. In the world of BikingMan, he has seen hundreds of adventurers pass through. Those who finish are not always the strongest; they are the fairest. Those who know how to listen to the world.
The exact beauty
When he describes nature, his voice takes on an almost scientific tinge.He talks about geology, air density, light. He doesn't seek poetry; he seeks accuracy. Nature is not beautiful, it is just. And that's why it moves us. "Nights in the tent don't leave spectacular memories. No perfect images. What he keeps is silence." What I remember is the absence of noise. When everything stops, there's only you left, and that's enough. »
Resilience
Axel often talks about resilience as a rubber band. " The more you pull, the more it stretches, the more it adapts. But if you pull too hard, too often, it loses its tension. It doesn't break, it empties. "This image resembles him: concrete, without pathos, but implacably accurate.
For him, resilience is not a virtue.It's a fine mechanism, a balance that needs to be monitored. Each expedition stretches the elastic a little more. The mind, the body, lucidity: everything stretches. So, to prevent it from slackening forever, we must give it meaning again. Meaning is what restores tension. »
And that's where Greg comes in. Riding with him is like changing your perspective. Seeing the world through his eyes is like rediscovering the freshness of the first departure. Axel explains it as a CinemaScope effect: suddenly, the field widens, the perspective changes. We discover differently what we thought we knew. »
He recounts this idea by linking it to a universal memory: that of a child who falls. A baby doesn't cry because he's in pain. He cries when he meets his mother's worried gaze. He reads the pain in her eyes. "That's where it all comes down to: resonance. The gaze of the other shapes perception, gives it a framework, a depth.
With Greg, that's exactly it. Through his eyes, I understood what I do differently. He helps me read my own gestures. It's not pedagogy, it's a form of intelligence throughtaged. » He doesn't speak of teaching, but of a mirror. What one experiences, the other understands differently, and in this silent exchange, each expands. Resilience then becomes something greater: a flexibility of mind, an ability to let oneself be penetrated by the other's vision without losing one's own.
Greg, the partage
The relationship between Axel and Greg isn't that of two equals. It's that of a professional and an apprentice. But not in a hierarchical way: in a benevolent way. Axel observes, corrects, reassures. Greg learns, listens, imitates..
They don't need to talk to each other. Silence does the job. Two is better than one. » The phrase comes up often. No faster, no further: more just. What is striking is Axel's calmness.. No fear, no tension. He carries the mental burden without feeling it. It is part of him. He doesn't talk about it, he lives it. Thetage, here, is not sentimental. It is a science of presence. A way of showing that mastery only has value if it opens up.
Back
On the way back, the world moves too fast. Always. " When you come back, you have the rhythm of the wind. The world has the rhythm of Wi-Fi. It takes time to retune the speeds. » He returns to his family, to normality, to the light of a dust-free morning. His body is still tense, his mind already elsewhere. He knows the emptiness of returning home well. But he no longer runs away from it. He accepts it as a stage of the journey. The expedition doesn't end when you put down the bike. It continues within you. »
Legacy
Towards the end of the conversation, Axel's voice softened. We feel the man more than the adventurerHe talks about his children, future departures, the mark he wants to leave. I don't seek to leave traces, but passages. "It's all there. No quest for glory, no record. A trajectory. His own, made of precision, meaning, listening. And now, of transmission.
He also said: " The world is bigger than us. And that's why we have to go and understand it. » They crossed the line from Canada to Mexico in twenty-six days. But what Axel really crossed was time. His own, Greg's, the time of the modern world. What he teaches is not performance, it is harmony. The harmony between rigor and wonder, between mastery and confidence. When he speaks, everything becomes simple: move forward, look, understand. And we understand that what he is looking for is not at the end of the route, but in the way of being there. It doesn't roll to reach; it rolls to connect.Space, others, and what in him still remains curious about the world.
He says : " The meaning of an expedition is not what you discover, it's what you become able to see. » So we are silent for a moment. Because we understand that the real adventure is not to push the limits, but to make them porous. To feel that everything communicates: the body, nature, thought, silence. And if the route was supposed to stop there, between Canada and Mexico, we now know that it would continue elsewhere. In Greg's eyes. In his son's eyes. In this rare way that Axel Carion has of making the world bigger, simply by looking at it better.
To read : The World by Bike – by Axel Carion and David Styv
Discover the world, expeditions and projects of Axel Carion on his official website: https://axelcarion.com
