The inspirers

This post was first published on the excellent blog of La Cordée stores.

---

Adventure is a matter of cringe, rich or athletes? Certainly not! Discover here some very normal people who have decided to embark on extraordinary adventures.

It was on the Carretera Austral, this legendary road in the south of Chile that it struck me. Almost anyone can go on an adventure. Like never before, on this 1240 km long half-gravel road, I met people who made me feel absolutely ordinary. People for whom age, lack of experience or the presence of children was not a hindrance, but an additional motivation to embark on the adventure.

On a whim

At least half of the cyclists who find themselves on the Carretera are not around the world or seasoned cyclo-travelers. It is often couples or friends who, once in this Chilean region, have planned (or decided on a whim) to rent bikes for a different adventure. This is the case of Lenka, a young Czech who had not embarked on a bicycle since her childhood and who decided to cross the entire Carretera by bicycle. A crossing in the rain, on gravel, with long climbs and old equipment bought at a low price. I met her the day before she started her adventure. I was convinced that she (or her equipment) would never make it: no experience, alone and in these difficult conditions… I was wrong. She not only walked the entire road, but she decided to keep going! She now plans to add a few thousand kilometers to her old bike and go up to Ecuador or Colombia. "I don't know how I was able to travel so long in a different way than by bicycle", she wrote to me, charmed by her new means of transport.

Czech Lenka, just before her first big start.

Never too late

While some cyclists have just discovered the pleasures of traveling by bike, others have as many kilometers on the clock as they have wrinkles on their faces. This is particularly the case of Dafydd, a smiling Welsh 67-year-old, traveling for several months in South America. Our paths crossed as he slowly walked up a long hill pushing his bike. Seeing the dozen Welsh symbols and flags on his bike and gear, I had no choice but to stop to talk to him.

Dafydd set out to visit the few old Welsh settlements in eastern Argentina, taking his time and following his paper maps. Then as long as he got there, he thought he was going to pedal a few thousand more kilometers. He's been walking alone through the mountains and meadows for three months now. He told me that he sometimes finds the adventure difficult, but that he liked it so much that he was planning to come back next year. And this time, he was counting on convincing his wife to accompany him.

My Italian friend Davide talks to Dafydd, a 67 year old Welsh cyclist.

For families

Perhaps the most frequently cited reason for stopping or preventing yourself from traveling is the presence of children. This is clearly not the case for Gwenaël and Pascal, a Breton couple who are currently cycling in South America with their three young daughters. The quintet and their many luggage are installed on two tandems and a small bicycle. The decision to take a sabbatical year of discovery matured 5 years in the couple's mind, and the children were part of the decision. It must be said that since their birth or almost the girls, who are now 6, 8 and 10 years old, have been used to traveling by bicycle.

Gwenaël tells me that they have no fixed itinerary and that they travel according to the meetings and points of interest. The important thing is to have a family adventure and to introduce the girls to nature and other cultures. They also have the chance to attend various schools on their route for a few days. And like any cyclo-traveler, Gwenaël adds that they learn together to be "close to nature, [to understand] in [their] body what the weather, altitude, deserts, distances…" mean. I bet these three young girls won't be afraid of much when they get home.

We can follow the family on their travel blog.

Gwenaël and Naïline, the oldest of the three daughters. The other 60% of the family was already a little further ahead.

On wheels

For a cycling adventurer like me, meeting other cyclo-travelers is almost part of my daily life. Then, as you always find yourself crazier than yourself ...

I met Adrian Oh in an old cabin in Tierra del Fuego Argentina. The 36-year-old Singaporean teacher goes around the world ... on a skateboard!

On the road for almost 2 years, he has already reached more than 25 km of kicks on the asphalt. From his home country, he took his children's stroller with all of his luggage on his way through Malaysia first, then up South East Asia to Hong Kong. From there, he flew to Europe, where he trotted from Berlin to the Netherlands before descending through Belgium and France to Spain, where he made the way to Compostela. Not to mention that he then descended from Vancouver to Tierra del Fuego, in the southern tip of Argentina.

Adrian smiles and laughs all the time. The front of her face is so tanned that it almost looks like leather. The back of his neck is paler, probably because he's been rolling south for months constantly facing the sun. “But why on a skateboard?” I asked him. “Well… I love skateboarding, and I love to travel! He replied simply.

You can follow Adrian's adventures on Facebook page.

And you, does that inspire you?