The idea is as stupid as it’s crazy, but I think it’s beautiful: to ride all of the climbs in the French Alps. Not only the main passes but also the small ones. The goal is to not leave any paved road unridden. That’s the goal of Belgian cyclist STEVEN HENDRIKX.
Steven is in the third season of his self-assigned “ALLps” project, and while he was planning to achieve it over five years, he’s not sure anymore. The task is huge, and the more he rides the more he discovers new roads. To his credit, Steven is doing this as a pure amateur. There is no influencer or ambassador roles involved, and behind the romantic idea and the attractive photos there is a harsh reality. He rides during his paid leave and only using his savings. His ALLps riding days consist of six to 10 saddle hours, a couple hours drive, a grocery stop, bike and body maintenance, cooking, eating and sleeping—and he’s back at it at 6 the next morning, over and over again.
In fact, he’s combining the roles of rider, soigneur, mechanic, driver and cook for weeks. He’s basically a one-man Tour de France team without a sponsor and averaging more climbs in every three weeks than the racers.
As soon as I learned the concept of the ALLps project, I was fascinated to meet this hardcore iconoclast and fellow climber. It took a while, but we finally had a chance to ride and chat together on the 20th day of his 2025 spring campaign, starting from Modane in the Haute-Maurienne valley.
And so every trip fills new climbs on the map, but also creates holes in the whole puzzle.
The day’s route, planned months ahead, consisted of six mountain passes, mostly above 2,000 meters, with 5,500 meters of elevation gain in 173 kilometers. He dropped me after five hours and 2,800 meters of climbing. On all the climbs, Steven was elegantly spinning his 33×33 at a pace I was grinding my 34×32, while tempting to ask him questions from time to time. To be journalistically fair, I must say, at some point my breath was lacking, and some crucial questions had to be asked a couple of weeks later!
Probably the first and most obvious question that comes to mind is: Why? The main reason, besides the joy of riding, is that I love knowing the places I visit. So, when I began to visit France and climbed the most obvious passes, I was always curious to know about the next valley, where this road goes, why there is a paved road that goes up there, et cetera. When I imagined the project, the Col des Champs was the most southern pass I had ridden in the Alps, and looking toward the south, I felt like Christopher Columbus looking at the ocean: so many mountains to discover and explore! Understanding the network of roads, peaks and valleys from Lac Leman (Lake Geneva) to the Mediterranean Sea fascinated me.
Your history with cycling and France did not begin in 2022…. Of course not. I am 46 and have ridden most of my life. But it’s only around 2008, 2009 that I approached the Alps, and only by their periphery. I discovered the classic climbs around Nice: the Turini, the Colmiane. Then the Grand-Colombier and Mont du Chat, which are more on the north between the Jura and Alps, and at last the Ventoux—which is on the west side of the Alps. And the Ventoux is probably the summit where all the ideas popped.
What are the numbers of your typical trips? For this 2025 spring, I rode 23 days and Strava said I had ridden 3,478 kilometers and climbed 89,013 meters. In terms of climbs, I believe I have climbed around 400 to 500 of them, and I estimate I still have around 300 remaining to achieve the project by 2027.
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