Les Bornées, a club making room for women in cycling and triathlon

Les Bornées is a cycling and triathlon community founded in 2018 that champions the place of women in sport. It uses Smatchy the way a club would use a sports hall: to publish its rides and open them to whoever lives nearby. Here is how a club with no premises works.

What is Les Bornées?

Les Bornées is a cycling and triathlon community founded in 2018. Its purpose fits in one line: to champion the place of women in sport, particularly in two disciplines where they remain a minority on the start line.

It was created by a triathlete and entrepreneur who has raced the Étape du Tour and Ironman Nice, which explains the tone of the community. People talk about rides, climbs and training, not about good intentions.

Why a mixed community to talk about the place of women?

This is the most interesting choice in the project, and the most counter-intuitive. Les Bornées welcomes both women and men.

The reasoning is simple. A women-only club protects, but it does not change what happens in every other bunch. A mixed club that states its aim plainly forces habits to shift where they are actually formed: in the pace that gets announced, in the way turns are taken at the front, in waiting at the top of the climb rather than riding away.

In other words, mixing is not a compromise on the aim, it is the tool for reaching it.

What actually happens when you join?

Very concrete things. Weekend trips with coaching, multi-day immersion camps, free local rides, a sportswear shop, training e-books, and ambassadors who keep the club alive in their own regions.

Annual membership is deliberately low, with discounts at partner brands, and a federation racing licence is available for those who want race numbers.

Why does a club need an app?

Because a club with no premises has a problem that traditional clubs do not: it only exists at the moment someone proposes something.

A town club has a hall, a door, a noticeboard and a fixed slot. A community spread across a whole country has none of that. What replaces it is a place where rides get published, get found by proximity, and can be joined without asking anyone for permission.

That is exactly what Les Bornées uses Smatchy for: publishing rides and events, making them visible to whoever lives nearby, and letting people come.

What does it change for a complete beginner?

What usually stops a beginner on a bike is not the physical difficulty. It is the fear of being the one who slows everybody down.

A ride announced with a pace, a distance and an elevation gain removes much of that fear, because it turns a social question into a question of numbers. You know before you leave whether it is for you. And if the announced pace is respected on the road, you come back next time.

It is not spectacular, and it is nevertheless the entire point.

How do you join a ride?

Search for your town in the app and look at the cycling and triathlon rides published around you. Most local rides are free. There is no entry test, no minimum level, and no obligation to join the club to come and ride once.

The rest gets decided on the road.

Transparency: Les Bornées was founded by Maude Baudier, who is also behind Smatchy. We prefer to state this rather than present this piece as an outside testimonial.