I am not an athlete

If there's one thing I never believed in, it's good to be known for my athletic achievements.

In fact, I even have a few confessions to make:

• In elementary school, I preferred to learn the capitals of the world rather than chasing a ball.
• In high school, I was not far from being the last chosen in the sports teams.

Obviously, I was more a fan of physics than of physical education ...

A little rest after a difficult climb in Kyrgyzstan.

The bike

Photo taken last fall in Oka. I still run into trees out of nostalgia ...!

When I was a young teenager, my father started taking the family on short bike trips here and there in Quebec. It was the time of the beginnings of the cycle paths: the P'tit train du nord, the véloroute des bleuets in Lac St-Jean. We did one per year. I was not amazing, and with a sports brother who was four and a half years younger, our level was (sadly) almost equal.

When I was fifteen, I took up mountain biking, which quickly became my favorite sport. I started doing it 3, 4 times a week.

My technical progress has been more than slow, crashing through trees and over my handles on almost every ride for two years.

Loving the adrenaline of the sport, I nevertheless persevered and learned to better control my bike and my balance. These skills then continued to develop during my years of urban cycling in Montreal.

What an athlete!

And here I am today, pedaling the entire planet, one kilometer at a time.

Now knowing these secrets, you will understand my constant astonishment at the rave reviews about my physical abilities!

Because you know, you don't have to be an athlete to go on an adventure.

One of the most received questions before I left, and even since, was about my physical training. What I had done to get in shape in order to be able to make such great distances by bike.

The answer is ... almost nothing.

And in fact, as I had knee surgery in the year before I left, most of my training was more devoted to relearning to pedal! I could easily have postponed my departure, to a time when "I would be more ready." " I thought about it.

But are we ever ready to jump into the void?

Since the start, I have been driving around 1 km per month. By pedaling almost every day, that gives a daily average of about 400 km. But inevitably, by riding day after day, the training is done by itself. And you would be surprised by the slowness with which I cover these kilometers!

So, rolling in a sweat and forcing both legs and mind, I would sometimes feel like modifying your exclamations of "What an athlete!" "With" Which athlete? "...!

Use your strengths

One of my good friends ran the Appalachian Trail in full in summer 2015. Average of 70 km to run each day for 57 days, without stopping. The equivalent of 11 times Mount Everest ...

After his return, he invites me to run with him:

- We should go running together, that would put your knee back!
- I have enough that day.
- I didn't even offer you a date!
- Pretty sure I have enough all the time ...

Knowing my limits, I therefore did not set off on my round the world trip with the aim of going as quickly as possible. But rather to use my speed to meet people, talk to them, take pictures of them.

Choose your adventure

Choosing your adventure means choosing the challenge that suits you. Which will allow us to come true and just do what we want to do in this life. And no need for that to go to the end of the world.

Of course, for me at the moment, that means having chosen the bicycle as a means of transport, and feeling like an explorer in countries that are complicated to pronounce. It also means making the inner and solitary journey that I needed.

For my boyfriend Pat, it meant running like crazy through the American mountains. But also to come back home grown up, and to successfully start physiotherapy clinic in our native village.

And for you, this is what you will decide to dare. Athlete or not.