Travel and action

The tour of the Americas: a journey and an engagement

Let the good times roll !

Rolling...

By riding those 44000 kilometres we do not look for the acknowledgement or a physical exploit. In the contrary, we want to show by example that the bike is accessible for everyone as an ecological mean of transport. Rolling, simply rolling is our first and most important action.

We use and encourage biking, but also car-sharing, public transports, and other ecological means of transport that we shall use ourselves during the trip. We do not wish to be identified as purists that use only their bicycles. What we seek above all is to weaken the cult of the car as an individual mean of transport that isolates us one from the other in metal boxes.

Stopping…

We will of course take advantage of being around to play tourists in Machu Picchu, then roast on the beaches of Rio. After all, traveling is the art of taking time and immerse yourself with the culture you visit. But don't worry, we will share as much as possible with you through our journal and our post cards.

...And get into the action!

Traveling, riding is nice, but we'd feel it a little bit empty if there wasn't a real social implication. In fact the project was born in a block where the action was most important. It was not added afterward to give us good conscience. Lots of our time will be spent on our two wheels, but once on our feet we intend to act in favour of the man and its environment.

Specific actions for specific regions

Americas are wide and the environmental problems are not the same from north to south. Therefore our actions will be adapted in many aspects.

- Cities vs. backcountry
- Individuals vs. groups
- Young vs. old

But in any case, no one should be excluded because everyone is part of the environment and therefore should be able to participate at his or her capacity.

2 types of actions

Communicate

We wish to exchange as much as possible with people in order to learn from them, but we also want to share with them our ideal of environmental peace. To do so, during and after the tour, we are planning to give conferences in the communities and especially in schools in order to:

• Share the adventure we are living.
  
  
• Promote the use of ecological means of transport, more specifically the bicycle.
  
  
• Encourage people to act in order to preserve their immediate environment as well as the world heritage.
  
  
• Illustrate the link between peace and environment

If you would like to get a conference presented in your hometown and would like more details click here

We already plan to stop in the places on this list, but we are still looking for schools and other places to share our adventure and message. If you'd like to host a free conference during the tour and wish to know more about it?

Harvest and share

Share with Cyclo North South

Part of the money we raise before leaving and all the donations we receive during the tour will be used mainly to support the organisation Cycle North South. This group collects old bicycles in the province of Quebec to put them back in shape in order to send it to those who couldn't afford that "luxury" otherwise. Bikes benefit sometimes to women with family, sometimes to a group of villagers who share a same bike. Countries we will visit where cyclo north south is active are Mexico, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Cuba, Bolivia and Peru, but they are also active in Africa.

Share with CADR 67

We also share the result of our harvests with the french association CADR 67. Member of the french federation FUBICY, they work for the good of cycling in the city of Strasbourg. Due to its geographical situation, the city of Strasbourg is particularly polluted and gains in having more cyclists on its back. We will contribute in helping CADR 67 to put together a house of cyclists in the city.