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Inspiration and great deals for your next low-carbon trips
1,400 km by bike, 5 countries, 0 flights… That's the challenge taken on by Amalric, a 26-year-old consultant in Paris, and bike packer charged forward, leaping onto the Trans Balkan Race. What's that? An ultra-distance race covering 1,400 km with 30,000 meters of elevation gain, connecting Italy to Montenegro through the Balkans.
What's on the agenda: travel to and from the event by train, bus, and minibus; seven days of running completely on our own; and a charity fundraiser to benefit Beautiful Escapes, a tandem cycling organization for blind and visually impaired people. If you’re wondering how to plan a real trip centered around a sporting adventure in Europe without ever getting on a plane, this article is for you. Here’s a look back at a journey that began long before the first pedal stroke—and one that isn’t quite over yet…
"Stopping flying didn't dampen my thirst for adventure. If anything, it forced me to redraw my map and reimagine what adventure means to me."
Amalric is 26 years old. He works as a consultant in Paris. But above all, he has been traveling by bike for over ten years, riding a tandem for five years, and discovered bikepacking races three years ago.
For the past two years, he has also been a volunteer driver at Beautiful Escapes, an organization that has been organizing for more than 60 years Tandem bike rides that allow blind and visually impaired people to ride bikes in a group and safely. An activity that, though he didn't know it yet, would become one of the central themes of his Trans Balkan Race.
Nearly three years ago, Amalric also made a decision that changed the way he travels: to stop flying.
"It wasn't a decision to give up on long-distance travel or the adventures I dreamed of, but rather a challenge I wanted to set for myself: to keep traveling, but to look for new ways to experience adventure."
The result: rather than watching major bikepacking races around the world, he started looking at what was accessible from Paris by land. And he realized that Europe already offered a vast playground! “If you’re looking to travel and go on cycling adventures, I recommend checking out bikepacking races (long-distance rides) in Europe, he explains. "There are a huge number of them on the continent, with easy access by train and formats suited to a wide range of skill levels."
Lake Percuca, Dinara Nature Park in Croatia, before a nearly 4-hour nighttime climb - © Amalric Lagie
The Trans Balkan Race is one of the great classics of bikepacking in Europe: 1,400 km and more than 30,000 meters of elevation gain, between Trieste, Italy, and Risan, in the Bay of Kotor in Montenegro, passing through five countries: Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, and Montenegro.
The race is run entirely self-supported: no outside assistance is allowed; participants must manage their own route, food and water supplies, sleep, repairs, and all their equipment. Amalric was aiming for a “sub-7-day” finish, which means completing the course in less than seven days.
"The Trans Balkan Race brought together everything I love about long-distance cycling: self-reliance, sustained effort, managing fatigue, but also that rather unique feeling of moving forward each day toward an unknown destination."
© transbalkanrace.com - The Trans Balkan Race route: “not quite up to date, but it gives you an idea,” according to Amalric
Beyond the athletic challenge, it was also a rather unique way to discover this part of Europe, far from the main tourist routes: cycling through the countries, watching the landscapes and villages gradually change—and, as Amalric put it, the food on our plates.
For Amalric, the journey wasn't supposed to begin at the first kilometer of the race, nor end at the finish line. The entire trip—both there and back—was made without flying.
Outbound: Paris → Trieste by train. First, a train to Milan, a night there, then a second train to Trieste, the starting point of the race.
© Amalric Lagie - On board an Italian Frecciarossa train
The highlight of the trip: seven days of biking. It was in Trieste that Amalric hopped on his mountain bike to cross the Balkans from north to south. He finally crossed the finish line in Risan after 6 days, 23 hours, and 1 minute of racing. The complete route can be found at this Strava link.
On the return trip: Risan → Paris, by land. After spending three days enjoying our arrival, we headed to Paris via a series of connections:
"In the end, those two days weren't just 'travel time' we had to endure, but the final days of the trip. While a flight would have allowed us to get home in a few hours, this return trip by land created a gradual transition from the mountains of Montenegro to my everyday life in Paris."
And despite all those transfers, Amalric finally arrived in Paris just in time for the family dinner.
"Just a few train rides from Paris, you can find yourself vulnerable in an unfamiliar mountain range, talk about life for hours with someone you met that very day, push your limits, and experience that rare feeling of being exactly where you’re meant to be. That’s also what this adventure confirmed for me: you don’t have to go to the other side of the world to live life to the fullest." — Amalric
What really stands out in Amalric's account is not so much the kilometers as the faces and moments he remembers.
First, there’s this long, technical climb—most of which was spent pushing the bike—alongside a Polish participant living in Switzerland, whom he had met a few hours earlier:
"As we walked together through the mountains, the conversation gradually shifted away from the hike to talk about our lives, what had brought us there, our choices, and what we were hoping to find in this adventure. [...] Sometimes, for a few hours, strangers become traveling companions with whom we speak with surprising sincerity."
There's also a night spent in a remote cabin in the mountains of Bosnia with Hull Tyler, a Canadian participant, "A roof to shelter us from the rain and four hours of sleep before heading back into the mountains", and waking up at 2 a.m. in a small Bosnian restaurant, followed by a five-hour climb to try to cross a mountain pass before the rain started.
A Short Night in Bosnia - © Amalric Lagie
And then, the arrival. 8:01 a.m., after a sleepless night and temperatures that had dropped to 0°.
A well-deserved rest in the hills above Risan, Bay of Kotor, Montenegro, a few hours after arrival - © Amalric Lagie
"What a joy it is to return to a life without a schedule, without a stopwatch, without a tracker. Now I can eat without watching the clock, linger over a second dessert [...] In short: enjoy the passing of time, enjoy the company of the other participants who arrived before me."
A landscape in Croatia, along a mountain bike trail, at dawn
What makes Amalric's story so special is also that he never wanted this race to remain a solo adventure. He built a community-focused initiative around his Trans Balkan Race to raise funds and promote Échappées Belles, the tandem cycling association for blind and visually impaired people, where he serves as a volunteer pilot. The concept was directly inspired by the race: 1 € raised for every kilometer to be traveled, for an initial goal of €1,400.
The Échappées Belles Association
He also created a WhatsApp group with his family, friends, coworkers, and members of Échappées Belles to provide near-live coverage of the race.
"Some have become real dotwatchers, following my little dot as it moved along the tracker for nearly seven days. [...] Some of my colleagues discovered and supported the organization on this occasion. Even an American participant, Clayton, whom I met on the mountain bike trails in Croatia and who was moved by the project, made a $100 donation the very next day after his arrival.”
And the story isn't over yet: the funds raised during the Trans Balkan Race will be officially donated to Échappées Belles on October 4, 2026, during the Tandem Tour, a charity hike for pairs organized by Amalric in Marly-le-Roi.
Amalric also shares some very practical tips for anyone who would like to embark on a similar journey, traveling by train, bus, and disassembled bicycle.
Peace and quiet returns to Risan: relaxation in all its glory - © Amalric Lagie
When it comes to travel, his advice is even simpler: for those who already ride bikes, he highly recommends bikepacking events, long-distance rides, or ultracycling races, which he believes are a great gateway to adventure.
"For me, these events are a wonderful gateway to travel and adventure: all it takes is a few train rides to find yourself in unfamiliar territory, put yourself in a challenging situation, and experience a few days of incredible intensity. You don’t necessarily have to go to the other side of the world to feel a long way from home."
"Perhaps what stands out most to me about this adventure is that the TBR was a journey in its own right, built around a deadline that inspired me just as much as it stressed me out. The race lasted only seven days, but the adventure had begun long before Trieste and continued after Risan."
In short, between training with his friend Vladimir at the start in Trieste (and the thrill of seeing him again a few days later, also finishing the race in Risan, which made him realize just how far he’d come since signing up), the loved ones cheering him on from afar, and the TV show *Échappées Belles* being part of the project, Amalric remembers one thing above all else: Traveling shorter distances, perhaps, but certainly not living life to the fullest.“All in all, finishing the Trans Balkan Race was a great accomplishment this year. I’d been dreaming about this race and these mountains for months, and I achieved exactly what I’d set out to do. It made me want to keep imagining this kind of travel adventure: choosing a great race accessible from Paris, setting a date on the calendar, training through trips with friends, and then experiencing it and sharing it with the people who matter to me." - Amalric
So, want to give it a try?
Issue du monde de la communication et des médias, Sophie est Responsable éditoriale chez HOURRAIL ! depuis août 2024. Elle est notamment derrière le contenu éditorial du site ainsi que La Locomissive (de l'inspiration voyage bas carbone et des bons plans, un jeudi sur deux, gratuitement dans ta boîte mail !).
Convaincue que les changements d’habitude passent par la transformation de nos imaginaires, elle s’attache à montrer qu’il est possible de voyager autrement, de manière plus consciente, plus lente et plus joyeuse. Son objectif : rendre le slow travel accessible à toutes et tous, à travers des astuces, des décryptages et surtout, de nouveaux récits.
