Caroline Prigent, co-founder of Poco Loco: Cycling adventure, a feminist struggle

Adventure + cycling + environment + feminism: these are the ingredients that Caroline Prigent seeks to mix in her beautiful project, Poco Loco. Somewhere between UCPA and IronMan, these two-wheeled odysseys are all about discovering your own power, and making your own "ecological shift".

Hello Caroline! We'd love to know more about you and the project you co-founded with Harald Lenud-Pilc, Poco Loco?

My name is Caroline, and I worked for 10 years in sustainable development consulting. I've been a triathlete for a long time and I'm addicted to ultra-cycling. One day, I wanted to turn this passion into an entrepreneurial project committed to the feminist cause. I met Harald, who had the same desire as me. Together, we created Poco Loco, an ultra-cycling event designed to help women dare to set off on an adventure. The first edition took place on October 9, 2022. 150 participants set off from Montpellier to rally Barcelona, 35% of them women.

**What does it mean, in concrete terms, to dare to set off on an adventure? **

Poco Loco is somewhere between an agency and a race, between UCPA and Ironman. In concrete terms, we organize adventures by providing beautiful routes on specific itineraries, such as Montpellier-Barcelona, Dijon-Stuttgart, Aix-en-Provence-Milan, for which, each time, we provide: welcome and arrival of cyclists, stopover, equipment check, permanent assistance and communication.

There are three formulas. The classics, 700 km ultracycling races with a checkpoint. Bikepacking Experiences, the convivial format, where you meet up with other participants in the evening. And weekends, where you set off to discover a region or a theme: these are 300 km itineraries where you cross the most beautiful villages, canyons, waterfalls and emblematic places in the region. People can bivouac or stay in hotels. It's a format that allows you to set off in search of yourself, and it's an incredible school for self-reliance. But unlike races, which often promote "no talking", we at Poco Loco are keen to combine autonomy and conviviality.

** Poco Loco also has a strong environmental commitment. Could you explain? **

Yes, our mission is to encourage low-carbon, responsible and inclusive travel. So, after each event, we share our carbon footprint publicly. It's a first step towards a global carbon strategy. We also choose our departure and arrival points carefully, so that everyone can arrive and depart by train easily and at reasonable rates. The idea behind this commitment was to give our competitors a kick in the pants: today, the outdoor sector isn't driving us at all, even though our playground is outdoors. Today, there's no active, shared, transparent approach.

"We need to reenchant local travel".

One of Poco Loco's missions is to make these races accessible to more women. Why is this feminist commitment important to you?

Only 5% of trail runners and triathletes are women. Why such inequality? It was important for us to respond to this by structuring our offer around our responsible commitments and our desire for integration. For example, rather than an ultracycling race, we present ourselves as an adventure. Because racing is about competition and performance, it conveys masculine or virilist values. Just look at the names of the races: "gravelman", "bikingman". Everything is "man man man", soldier, machine, superman...

That's not what I'm looking for. In this post-covid world, it's not performance that's interesting, it's managing the unprecedented. You have to be resilient, see what the world has to offer and be happy. The aim of the Poco Loco challenges is to reenchant local travel by showing that adventure isn't just for athletes, but that it's a way of being and thinking above all. You don't have to be a seasoned cyclist to cover 700 km. If you have the time, you can do it at your own pace!

Where does this outdoor craze come from?

My parents made me travel a lot, and I lived in New Zealand, Colombia and Montreal for my studies. In each of these places, I was looking for outdoor activities. When I came back to France 10 years ago, I had to rediscover this link. But whereas in Montreal and New Zealand, it was easy because I was sure that people in the group shared the same interests as me, in Paris, I found myself with a group of friends from school who had never been camping, and I didn't know how to get out of the periphery. So I went to Le Vieux Campeur, asked for maps and created my own micro-adventure. Very quickly, with my triathlon club, I realized that by covering 60 km, I'd get out of Paris and could easily have short weekends. I met people who, like me, wanted to get up at 6 a.m. to kayak and visit pretty places in the afternoon by bike. I found an outdoor gang and that's exactly what I wanted to reproduce with Poco Loco: to help adventure lovers feel less alone and make the outdoors easier.

"With Poco Loco, I want to create an outdoor gang".

What are your strongest memories of cycling?

When I was living in Montreal, I started triathlon. I couldn't swim and bought a road bike that weighed 3 tons. For 2 months, every evening, I would ride that bike 40 km on a car racing circuit. I was looking for outlets, like boxing or rugby, but I didn't want to compete, I had this apprehension of failure that held me back enormously. What I love about triathlon or endurance racing is that you also have a starting line, but not just a loser and a winner. The philosophy is to do your best and, above all, enjoy the moment. This sport has given me inner balance and opened me up to the world. That's what I want to share, this taste for adventure, the territory and the inner encounter. I think it's an essential triptych for an ecological shift. When you realize the importance of the territory, you're ready to consume and think about the world differently.

What do you want to convey with Poco loco?

We want to create a network of responsible businesses for adventurers. We're the generation that's learning, we're not always the most exemplary, but together, we're going to move towards something better. I believe there are many of us who want to become players and not just witnesses. In fact, that's exactly what the adventure offers: you're part of the movement.

"Cycling allows women to reclaim space, time and dreams".

How do you design your adventures?

We create them together, with Harald, who has a passion for maps and territories, and loves to tell stories around these traces, like this summer when he's off to ride the Game of Thrones trails in Ireland and Scotland. We only have one constraint: to propose itineraries of around 700 km. After that, we identify the most beautiful villages in France, regional parks, gorges, waterfalls, passes and rivers, in places that deserve to be discovered. We want to take people to places they don't usually go. We often try to get people to cross borders, because we find it incredibly vibrant, and we feel a bit like cowboys.

What tools do you work with?

We work on Komoot and Google maps. It's a huge part of our work. I had to redo one of the courses three times, because gravel is very particular to plot. Sometimes you're sure you're on the right track and then, boom, you end up on private property or a hard-core mountain bike trail. Having said that, there's no such thing as a perfect track - it's a grail, a real quest! Our sole aim is to offer safe and beautiful trails, to provide a break from the world.

Do you think it can be used again to win back tourism?

Yes, it's an incredible tool. Personally, it's taught me a lot, if only to take time for myself. Because cycling, especially long-distance cycling, requires training time. And that time is often taken up by family or couple time. And we women have less freedom to take this time than men. And then there's space. Cycling allows us to reclaim space, to be visible. We dare to be out and about. I can assure you that walking into a PMU full of guys, not asking any questions about your gender, feeling like you belong, is really powerful! It's a political act: I'm outside, I'm at home, in the heart of the city. And finally, there's a third re-appropriation: that of one's dreams. For example, my dream was to live in the mountains when I was 14. But I remember I was waiting for my Savoyard prince. I'd internalized the fact that my dreams weren't mine to live out. With cycling, I've never said that to myself... And I love that feeling of power.

"Our aim is to empower people to meet themselves and others

.

What's your best cycling trip?

Patagonia, which I did alone 3 years ago. For a month, I was the only mistress on board. Because that's what's incredible about cycling: at some point, you're on your own and you can only rely on yourself, your skills, your choices, with its share of troubles. You break something, you don't know how to fix it, but you learn. You make no concessions: you want to sleep there, you listen only to yourself. It's a dizzying moment: I have to camp, damn it, I have to choose. You're taming your fears, the sounds of the night, it's quite animalistic, especially when you live in the city and are used to constant stimuli. Suddenly, all you hear is silence. All of a sudden, it's adventure, real adventure, pure adventure: reconnecting with your instincts. You concentrate on your sensations and discover a parallel world, it's so beautiful.

Is outdoor adventure just for sportsmen and women?

I think we need to desacralize the term "sporty". Poco loco is sporty, just like hiking is. But you're not going to collapse in the ring. Yes, it's all about effort and movement. But we're all capable of movement. If we give you 8 days, you can do 700 km.

What's the best feedback you've had from a participant?

Lisa, a 62-year-old woman, who arrived with panniers from space, ready for a bike tour. I thought: oops, that's not the style of the event. But then I quickly dismissed my own prejudices. This woman had travelled all over the world, she'd cycled through Nepal... Poco Loco should, on the contrary, encourage a diversity of styles. I remember she finished her adventure in 7 days and, when she arrived, we were all in a café bar after visiting the city. When she arrived, she got a hola, and we were all very moved. Everyone's part of the same adventure, both collective and autonomous, and that's what's so powerful.

Music for curves: "Un Monde Nouveau", Feu Chatertton

Music for descents: "Young and Beautiful", Lana Del Rey

Music for climbing: "Femme Like You", K-Maro (eh si😅)

A podcast for chilling out on your bike: La Pampa à vélo

A book for adventure: The Call of the Wild, Jack London