Pain au Chocolat

Pain au Chocolat is a 1,000-kilometer all-road ultra-cycling event starting in Grenoble, in the heart of the French Alps, organized by the team behind Dead Ends and Cake. As the playful name suggests, the event is built around the idea of riders being perpetually on the hunt for the next pain au chocolat — France's classic chocolate-filled breakfast pastry — turning resupply stops at French boulangeries into a central and celebrated part of the riding experience rather than a mere logistical necessity. Grenoble sits at the convergence of three mountain ranges — the Chartreuse, Vercors, and Belledonne massifs — giving the route immediate access to serious alpine climbing from the very start.

The event's lighthearted branding belies the genuine physical demand of a 1,000-kilometer all-road route through the French Alps, where even paved roads frequently climb to passes above 2,000 meters. The August timing coincides with the height of the French summer cycling season, when alpine passes are fully open and the country's cafe and boulangerie culture is in full swing, perfectly suited to the event's pastry-driven sense of humor and approach to long-distance riding.