the essential
At the end of May, 23 people from Lot, the majority of whom are women, will leave from Cahors to reach Paris… By bike. A national event organized by the French cycle tourism federation, which was taken over by the women’s commission of the Lot departmental cycle tourism committee.
“We can’t wait to be there!” laughs Marie-Andrée Bardet. The latter is part of the women’s commission of the Lot departmental cycle tourism committee. With two other women, Marie-France Girma and Véronique Drukman, she organized a journey to reach Paris from Cahors by bike. Quite a trip.
“In the Lot, the women’s commission of the departmental cycloTourism committee organizes lots of outings. In 2016, we participated in “Alles in Strasbourg” then in 2021 in “Alles in Toulouse”. Exclusively women’s events. This year, for the Olympics , the federation wanted to mark the occasion. It is organizing “Together in Paris”, a mixed event, we said to ourselves that we were going to go there,” begins Véronique Drukman. Neither one nor two, the three women set out to organize this adventure, accompanied by Bernard Alzaga, president of the committee.
DR Bernard Alzaga
The departure is on May 25, Place Mitterrand in Cahors, on the occasion of “May by bike”, an event organized by Grand Cahors. Eight stages are planned: Salignac, Magnac-Bourg, La Souterraine, Châteauroux, Blois, Orléans, Buthiers and finally, the capital. “The biggest day, we are going to do 111 kilometers. The smallest stage is between Blois and Orléans. We take the opportunity to do some sightseeing,” says Véronique. Indeed, one of the participants has planned a road book: what there is to see on the route… “And in Orléans, as we will arrive early, we have planned a visit of more than two hours of the city to discover the main monuments. We combine business with pleasure!”, laughs Marie-France.
Promote women’s cycling
The goal of this event: to get as many women as possible to ride. “Last year, we created the Tour du Lot. We wanted to prove to women that they were capable of riding and embarking on an adventure. We covered 600 kilometers, and more than 7,000 meters of elevation gain We wanted to show women that they could do it, it was reassuring. For Paris, we are going to do a little more kilometers but less elevation gain,” says Véronique. 14 women are taking the start, they will be accompanied by nine men. “We wanted to have more women, to keep the initial idea of promoting women’s cycling,” assures Marie-France.
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For the arrival in Paris, all participants will wear the same jersey. And to ensure the safety of participants, a van will travel. “We will take turns over half-days to drive it. That way, everyone will be able to ride and enjoy the outing,” says Marie-Andrée. And for the return, a cyclist will pick up the runners by bus. Until then, the three women pray that the weather will be on their side, with beautiful sunshine all along the route.
And above all, the women’s commission of the Lot departmental cycle tourism committee does not intend to stop there. The three women conclude: “Our outings are always a preparation for something else. We have lots of ideas for next year. We will think about them as soon as we get past Paris. We hope to be able to bring more and more women with us”.
