Here you can find updates from our journey, and perhaps the odd post on pollution and how wonderful bicycles are. It would be our pleasure to hear your thoughts on the comments at the end of each post or through the contact us page.
Posted on 25 Dec 2019, by Arianna
With the beginning of the seat tube our route took us deeper south into Wallonia, and specifically into the southernmost province of Belgium, curiously known as Luxembourg (not to be confused with the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg!). The weather being still unforgiving - perhaps even hostile - we had a few wretched days during which I couldn’t but keep cursing myself for the silly mistake of taking non-waterproof over gloves and shoes. Again, we didn’t take many pictures to document our miseries, partly because our camera is not waterproof and partly because we didn’t have a deep urge to faff around with photography equipment when our main goal was to keep warm and relatively dry. Nonetheless, we did manage to...
Posted on 12 Dec 2019, by Arianna
We started tracing the saddle - or rather the seat post - in the small village of Compogne, which rightfully caught much of our attention simply for being also the END to our whole bicycle drawing. It is really a strange feeling that of passing by bike through a random place with the knowledge of having to pass there again in a few months… A feeling that is probably shared only by some privileged foolish people that decide to draw huge shapes with a bicycle. Like the last few days spent tracing the bicycle top-tube, cycling along the seat post granted us some more beautiful views of the Belgian Ardennes, with dark stone houses set amidst glorious rolling hills. But...
Posted on 30 Nov 2019, by Arianna
When we took the TGV on the 18th of November to go back to Paris and restart our trip I was not too sure about what we would actually manage to achieve, cycling-wise. During this two-month rest period I had trained a lot, both on and off the bike, to recondition my knee, but just in the last few days before departure I had started feeling some small hints of pain again. Despite fearing a second failure, we decided to try… mainly because we had booked the TGV and we couldn’t leave the bikes in my friend Leo’s flat forever! On a positive note we managed to pack better this second time, and by cutting down on unessential stuff (we...
Posted on 14 Nov 2019, by Arianna
When we set off on this journey I was well aware that something could go wrong at some point. After all, despite being two reasonably well-seasoned cycle-tourists, we had never attempted anything of this magnitude before, with such a heavy load, and during late autumn months. Clearly, there was plenty of room for unexpected complications… My main concerns were regarding Zola, and the fact that she may end up hating the whole experience, my own mental state, since I have been suffering for a long time with health anxiety and panic attacks, and Daniel’s right knee, that had let us down on a couple of occasions before. But never ever I would have thought that my body would fail me...
Posted on 30 Sep 2019, by Arianna
It was difficult to leave the luxury and comforts of Patrick and Françoise’s barn in Saint-Loup-des-Vignes, especially for Zola, but we finally managed to. Before starting to cycle along the dropped handlebar drawing, we actually had to first retrace a bit of the fork, through the Parc du Gâtinais Français, and then cover a few kilometres along the head tube, which went straight through Paris. The first time I drew the bicycle on Google maps I purposely traced the head tube a bit to the east of Paris, hoping to avoid cycling through the mess of the French capital, but I was not understanding why there was a big bump along the head tube that Google maps didn’t seem happy...
Posted on 09 Sep 2019, by Arianna
After reaching the highest point at the Pas de Peyrol, the landscape started to slowly smooth down through the regions of Auvergne, Limousin and Dordogne, with the hills becoming lower and lower, and eventually giving space again to vast flat areas towards the end of the wheel, while crossing the Poitou-Charentes and Centre regions. Upon exiting the Massif central we particularly enjoyed the lovely little town of Argentat, beautifully set along the river Dordogne. View of Argentat, on the river Dordogne Here in Argentat we got some bad news, given that the Guinness World Record finally contacted us with very detailed instructions on how several proofs should be collected if we wanted to set a record. Yes because, just before...
Posted on 24 Aug 2019, by Arianna
After resting for a couple of days in Saint-Loup-des-Vignes and with a few hundred grams less to carry with us (Zola’s hair), we were ready and happy to tackle the front wheel. Upon passing once more through Boiscommun we stopped at the local bar-tabac to buy 3(!) copies of the French newspaper La République du Centre, where our project got featured in an article, under the tag “unusual” (we were grateful it didn’t go under the tag “mad”). It felt surreal when the cashier, beaming, made it clear she had recognised us by pointing to our picture within the newspaper! Featuring in an article of the French newspaper La République du Centre So we left the flats of the Loiret...
Posted on 25 Dec 2019, by Arianna
With the beginning of the seat tube our route took us deeper south into Wallonia, and specifically into the southernmost province of Belgium, curiously known as Luxembourg (not to be confused with the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg!). The weather being still unforgiving - perhaps even hostile - we had a few wretched days during which I couldn’t but keep cursing myself for the silly mistake of taking non-waterproof over gloves and shoes. Again, we didn’t take many pictures to document our miseries, partly because our camera is not waterproof and partly because we didn’t have a deep urge to faff...
Posted on 12 Dec 2019, by Arianna
We started tracing the saddle - or rather the seat post - in the small village of Compogne, which rightfully caught much of our attention simply for being also the END to our whole bicycle drawing. It is really a strange feeling that of passing by bike through a random place with the knowledge of having to pass there again in a few months… A feeling that is probably shared only by some privileged foolish people that decide to draw huge shapes with a bicycle. Like the last few days spent tracing the bicycle top-tube, cycling along the seat post...
Posted on 30 Nov 2019, by Arianna
When we took the TGV on the 18th of November to go back to Paris and restart our trip I was not too sure about what we would actually manage to achieve, cycling-wise. During this two-month rest period I had trained a lot, both on and off the bike, to recondition my knee, but just in the last few days before departure I had started feeling some small hints of pain again. Despite fearing a second failure, we decided to try… mainly because we had booked the TGV and we couldn’t leave the bikes in my friend Leo’s flat forever!...
Posted on 14 Nov 2019, by Arianna
When we set off on this journey I was well aware that something could go wrong at some point. After all, despite being two reasonably well-seasoned cycle-tourists, we had never attempted anything of this magnitude before, with such a heavy load, and during late autumn months. Clearly, there was plenty of room for unexpected complications… My main concerns were regarding Zola, and the fact that she may end up hating the whole experience, my own mental state, since I have been suffering for a long time with health anxiety and panic attacks, and Daniel’s right knee, that had let us...
Posted on 30 Sep 2019, by Arianna
It was difficult to leave the luxury and comforts of Patrick and Françoise’s barn in Saint-Loup-des-Vignes, especially for Zola, but we finally managed to. Before starting to cycle along the dropped handlebar drawing, we actually had to first retrace a bit of the fork, through the Parc du Gâtinais Français, and then cover a few kilometres along the head tube, which went straight through Paris. The first time I drew the bicycle on Google maps I purposely traced the head tube a bit to the east of Paris, hoping to avoid cycling through the mess of the French capital, but...
Posted on 09 Sep 2019, by Arianna
After reaching the highest point at the Pas de Peyrol, the landscape started to slowly smooth down through the regions of Auvergne, Limousin and Dordogne, with the hills becoming lower and lower, and eventually giving space again to vast flat areas towards the end of the wheel, while crossing the Poitou-Charentes and Centre regions. Upon exiting the Massif central we particularly enjoyed the lovely little town of Argentat, beautifully set along the river Dordogne. View of Argentat, on the river Dordogne Here in Argentat we got some bad news, given that the Guinness World Record finally contacted us with very...
Posted on 24 Aug 2019, by Arianna
After resting for a couple of days in Saint-Loup-des-Vignes and with a few hundred grams less to carry with us (Zola’s hair), we were ready and happy to tackle the front wheel. Upon passing once more through Boiscommun we stopped at the local bar-tabac to buy 3(!) copies of the French newspaper La République du Centre, where our project got featured in an article, under the tag “unusual” (we were grateful it didn’t go under the tag “mad”). It felt surreal when the cashier, beaming, made it clear she had recognised us by pointing to our picture within the newspaper!...