A series of ultra-cycling challenges crossing the landscapes of France. Five events, five territories, four formats (200km, 300km, 500km, 24h). Founded in Toulouse in 2021 by Hubert and Jean-Marc, two long-distance cyclists who wanted to build something that combined endurance, adventure and the discovery of French regions.
After four years, participation and sponsorship had plateaued. The brand was perceived as technical and reserved for specialists. The website had no clear registration path, the visual identity lacked coherence, and the communication spoke to the 10% of experts while ignoring the 90% of curious challengers who could become riders.
Marketing and visual audit, competitive analysis (15+ events benchmarked), brand strategy and repositioning, logo and icon redesign, complete visual identity system, typography and colour architecture, website UX/UI on Framer, social media strategy, content templates, sponsor deck and ongoing creative direction.
The repositioning started with one conviction: UBF should feel less like a race and more like an adventure to live and tell. We kept the sporting DNA but wrapped it in a narrative that speaks to anyone who has ever wondered what 500 kilometres on a bike through the mountains of France actually feels like.
The events were good. The brand didn't show it.
UBF came to us through the endurance community, the same world that connected us with Pyrene® and Pace®. The events had been running for four years. Riders who finished them came back every season. But the numbers weren't growing. The visual identity sent the wrong signal: niche, technical, for specialists only. The riders' experience told a different story, one of landscapes, personal challenge and human connection. The brand just wasn't telling it.
Before touching a single pixel, we ran a full audit: website UX, information architecture, registration flow, and a competitive analysis covering 15 ultra-cycling events across France and Europe. Three categories emerged: performance events (24 Heures Vélo, Transpyrenees), accessible adventure brands (Poco Loco, Mad Jacques), and hybrid formats (Marseille-Napoli, Bordeaux-Bilbao). The events that grew fastest shared two things: a clear promise visible in five seconds, and a registration path that took two clicks.
UBF had neither. The website scattered essential information across too many pages. The registration redirected to a third-party platform with poor UX. CTAs were buried or missing entirely. The visual identity leaned heavily on dark backgrounds and aggressive typography that spoke to hardcore cyclists but alienated the broader audience that most competitors were already capturing. The diagnosis was simple: simplify the experience, put registration front and centre, and reposition the narrative from "technical cycling event" to "adventure you can picture yourself in." This wasn't a visual refresh. It was a full rebrand.
The audit identified four structural barriers to growth. First, a dispersed navigation with too many secondary pages. Visitors got lost before reaching the registration. Second, CTAs were either invisible or poorly positioned. The sign-up button, supposedly the primary objective, required multiple clicks through individual race pages. Third, the registration itself redirected to an external partner site with confusing UX, no clear path for first-time users, and a design that undermined trust. Fourth, content was poorly prioritised: essential information (concept, dates, formats) was buried under secondary material (partners, history, FAQ on a separate page).
For each barrier, the recommendation was the same: centralise. A single homepage that explains the concept, shows the five challenges with dates and CTAs, and integrates registration directly. FAQ as an accordion at the bottom, not a separate page. Partners folded into an about section, not a standalone destination. Every decision that followed, from the logo to the colour system to the Framer website, was shaped by this audit.
The old logo worked for a cycling club. The new one had to work for a brand. An event icon needs to hold on a jersey, on a race bib, on an Instagram avatar, on a sponsor deck. But before solving for scale, we solved for meaning.
The icon encodes three ideas, each visible to anyone who looks closely enough. 1. A forward arrow. Speed, growth, the road ahead. 2. A checkered flag. The finish line, the endurance culture. 3. A cyclist's helmet. The world of Ultra Bike, abstracted.
The construction follows the golden ratio (1:1.618), two circles derived from Fibonacci proportions that give the mark a natural sense of movement and mathematical balance. The icon's four internal shapes mirror the four (now five) annual UBF challenges, creating a direct link between the brand architecture and the event calendar. And if you look closely, the letters U, B and F are all present in the negative space.
The typographic system uses TikTok Sans in three variants: ExtraExpanded for expressive headlines that command attention, SemiExpanded for impactful subheadings, and the standard weight for clean body text. The balance between condensed impact and open readability mirrors the brand itself: intense but accessible.
The colour architecture is where the modular system really comes alive. Each of the five challenges carries its own identity colour rooted in the landscape it crosses. Les Cévennes in deep forest green. Les Alpes in mineral blue. Les 24h d'Altitude in twilight grey. Les Pyrénées Catalanes in warm terracotta. La Provence in sun-bleached ochre. On digital, on print, on race-day signage, the colour tells you which territory you're in before you read a word.
This modularity turns the calendar into a collectible series. Five challenges, five visual identities, five territories to complete over seasons. Riders don't just sign up for a race. They start collecting experiences. The calendar page on the website became a collection grid, not a list. Each card has its colour, its landscape photography, its countdown. The system was designed so that adding a sixth or seventh challenge in the future requires no redesign, just a new colour and a new territory.
The audit had identified the core problem: an event with no clear registration path. The old site required multiple clicks through separate pages to find the sign-up button, then redirected to a third-party platform with poor UX. Every extra step was losing potential riders.
The new website was rebuilt with one priority: get someone from "I'm curious" to "I'm registered" in the fewest steps possible. The homepage now opens with the concept, shows the five challenges with dates and CTAs, and integrates the registration flow directly. No external redirects. No confusion. A countdown to the next event creates urgency, testimonials from past riders build trust, and the FAQ answers the questions that used to send people away.
Five challenges.
One adventure.
The marketing strategy was built on a simple shift: stop talking about kilometres and start talking about what those kilometres feel like. The social media system is structured around three content pillars. Inspiration: landscapes, rider stories, finish-line moments. Information: dates, formats, practical details. Marketing: registration prompts, sponsor activations, countdown campaigns. Templates were designed so the UBF team can publish on-brand content without waiting for a designer.
The biggest structural change was turning the events into a collectible series. Five challenges, five territories, five visual identities that riders want to complete over seasons. The calendar page on the website became a collection grid, not a list. Scarcity mechanics (limited bibs, countdowns, early-bird pricing) replaced passive announcements. And a sponsor deck was designed to present UBF not as a cycling race, but as an adventure platform with a defined audience, visual standards and activation opportunities.
UBF went from a cycling event with a loyal but small following to a brand that people want to be part of. The website works. The registration converts. The social media has a system. The sponsor deck opens doors that were closed before. And riders now discover UBF through its visual identity, not despite it. The same approach we bring to every project in the endurance world, from a nutrition brand in the Pyrenees to a triathlon coach in Toulouse.
UBF®
French ultra-cycling event series.
Pyrene®
French nutrition for ultra-endurance.
Forvis Mazars®
International audit, tax and advisory network.
Le Courti®
Guest house by the sea.
Menao®
B2B app for artisans and craftsmen.
Pace®
Triathlon and individual sports coaching.
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