Canovélo: traveling by canoe and bike. The story probably started at the end of my “Grande Traversée” of France by canoe in 2017. The canoe goes on the roof of a car, and we drive—in eight hours—what took us almost two months to paddle. After 50 days of canoeing from Geneva to the Atlantic Ocean, I feel strange in the car that brings us home. Though happy to finish, I feel torn away from the river, forced to return to normal life. The day before, we had slept rough in an improvised bivouac, the sky offering the most fantastic sunset I had ever seen. I could have lived in the moment forever when everything stopped.
Coming down from a long trip is never easy. Coming back to everyday life, going back to work. Few people understand what we experienced: a moment of great intimacy with nature. I’m surprised to find I miss long-distance trips. As soon as I return home, I start cycling and do several trips with friends on some of France's most famous cycle paths. It is efficient: what took a month to paddle can be covered in a few days of cycling. But for me, nothing beats the pleasure of gliding on the water. I don't want to choose between cycling and canoeing. I have to find a way to combine the two.
Only a few weirdos have come up with a way to tow a canoe with a bicycle. German extreme paddlers Olaf Obsommer and Jens Klatt paved the way with their "Bike
