« The first day, the first kilometers, the first storm, the first difficult climbs, the first moments of enjoyment; this pleasure from leaving, this pleasure to suffering, but to succeed. 95km, domessin → Minzier. It’s true that I had not looked at the weather. What’s the point ?! 7 am in the morning last preparations. I did not want to lingers. I was in a hurry to get on my bike and go far enough not to want to turn back. So I put the little matter that I was missing in the trailer, I said good-bye to my mother and my grandmother. I woke my brother who was sleeping on the terrace to tell him I was leaving. « I vividly remember the »awakening » morning, I had not really found sleep.Until the last moment I had thisfear, this feeling you feel before jumping into the void, before saying ‘I love you » for the first time. It’s double or quits,or you throw yourself and you feel an adrenaline rush that you filled life. Either you give up and that void that you did not have the courage to face yourself filled with doubts and regrets. So I said goodbye to all these reasons that kept me in France and I threw myself into the void! As the fall was emotionally charged of, encounters, adventures, reflection, escapes … The first day was really special! I had no training for 700 kilometers by bike, I havn’t done one kilometer with the trailer at the back,and I had certainly filled that trailer of heavy and useless things, forgetting the main … leaving lightweight. So I just wanted to go beyond my limits and go as far as possible. I say « possible » because the notion of what is possible has evolved over time for travelers. Whose sole engine both my legs and the energy they consume,I felt a little slow and every kilometer always seemed to me a little longer . By late afternoon , so exhausted and soaked I knocked on the door of a resident asking for hospitality. He agreed and the comfort of a shower and bed were not too many. Believe me I slept well that night, and apprehension has turned into excitement !
Day 2: « I always look how fast I move and how many kilometers I traveled. Why do I always need these data? There is the traveler and the competitor and one wrong with the other ! Go on a bike makes me realize several things. This road I took it for over a year, twice a month. Either by train or by car pooling. It took about 3 hours to get to Fribourg. I loved doing this road, leaving France, along the Léman lake and spend the weekend in Switzerland. I loved Fribourg, all these cultures that mix, all these languages, Swiss German, French, Italian, English,German. It was incredible, I felt my world ! But these trips gave me the illusion that everything was simple, as it was 300 kilometers only 3 hours. I believe that progress brings us to popularize certain essential values, but there are distances and feeli–ngs that progress will never popularize. I arrived in Lausanne in the afternoon. I bathe in Lake, I set my tent and I talk with my neighbor cyclist too. He left for a week on the road and he has only two small panniers on his bike. With time you learn to leave light… And the more you feel the lightness, the more it feels like freedom.