Published on18/12/2024has08:00
In the 200 family, I ask for the book Go, cycle differently. A concentrate of the most beautiful adventures published in the magazine 200.
Ulmer Editions are pleased to announce the birth of a book that makes you want to pedal, nose in the air or head down, hands up or down the handlebars. At the helm, Alain Servan-Puiseux, François Paoletti and Matthieu Lifschitz, his two journalists and his artistic director.
An ode to bicycle travel
This book is a concentrate of articles published in the magazine 200who for more than ten years has been driving far, thinking wide and celebrating travel and encounters. Each selected story is enriched with new photographs, offering a new vision into the world of small roads, picturesque villages and unique landscapes.
Alain Servan-Puiseux sums up the spirit of this adventure with poetry: “The first trip by bike is a very good gateway. Once opened, it rarely stays closed. But be careful: the risk of traveling by bike is that you get a taste for it and want to return every year. »
Stories to take your nose off the handlebars
These stories pay homage to the richness of the small roads, to the bell towers that emerge at the bend of the paths, and to the encounters that mark each pedal stroke.
Far from the main roads, these stories invite you to slow down, savor each moment and rediscover the world, handlebars in hand. It is a true celebration of rural France, its natural and cultural heritage, through the eyes of enthusiasts.
For lovers of Cycling and escape
At the French Cycling Tourism Federation, we can only warmly recommend this book. It is a source of inspiration for all those who dream of escape, whether they are novices or experienced cyclists.
Personally, I had read the majority of the articles that make up this book. The new model and unpublished photos give new life to the stories.
Partez, cycling differentlywhispers in your ears the call of the road and the promise of unique moments to experience, nose to the wind and heart open.
Meeting with Alain Servan-Puiseux
You talk about the first bike trip as a “door” that you never close. What do you think makes traveling by bike so irresistible?
I believe it gives us back human time. A time which is not dictated by a schedule, which is not a search for speed, which is not a search for efficiency. We are not trying to erase the journey, to move as quickly as possible: we are trying to experience it. And it happens by itself. This time has immense value today. We lack it.
France is highlighted in your stories. What are the little-known places or cycling routes that you absolutely recommend?
Difficult to make a list. But I believe that there are two fabulous and accessible deposits. The first is our own surroundings. We have our habits, and curiosity is not one of them. We often drive on the same roads. You just have to change it, without changing country. We are always making discoveries.
The other source is a paradox: you have to go where you don’t want to go. The Somme doesn’t tempt you, or doesn’t mean anything to you? Go to the Somme. The Ardennes scare you? Go to the Ardennes. At 200, we often play voluntary constraints. Follow a train line, a hero of a novel. They take us places we wouldn’t have gone. And we never regretted it.
For novices who want to embark on their first cycling trip, what essential advice would you give them to fully enjoy the experience?
To be afraid of nothing, or not much. What we have forgotten can be bought or found on the way. A soreness doesn’t kill you. Simple mechanics are mostly common sense. Only the first kilometer costs.
Will there be a sequel to Go, cycle differently
Maybe. Let’s wait to see how it is received by readers. The first signings and meetings make us very optimistic.
Our editor Jean-Pierre Giorgi with Alain Servan-Puiseux.
Available fromAnds now published by Ulmer. More information and purchase on www.editions-ulmer.fr
This book is a must-have for all cycle tourists!
Text: Jean-Pierre Giorgi – Photos: DR 200 / Jean-Pierre Giorgi
