Since my childhood I love riding the bicycle. I have a passion for everything about bicycles and that includes the technical side of it and innovations like electric bikes, e-bikes, different gear systems, bike computers, cargo systems etc.
Every time I get a technical translation related with bicycles, I am happy to learn more about this fascinating world.
When I lived in Belgium I started the local group ‘Fietsersbond’ with a friend. It is a union to lobby for the bicycle as a daily means of transport and to try to convince politicians to make roads safer for cyclists. There were campaigns to slow down motor traffic in town, to get safer bike lanes and get a policy that takes care of this green way of mobility. In France this union is called FUB (FÉDÉRATION FRANÇAISE DES USAGERS DE LA BICYCLETTE – LE VÉLO AU QUOTIDIEN)
After a couple of months of lockdown caused by Covid-19 a lot of people realised they could use their bicycles to go shopping locally or just as a way to de-stress. In Belgium there was an item in the radio program from Radio 1 ‘Nieuwe feiten’ with the title:
And the winner is … the bicycle!
In France the Minister for Ecological Transition Élisabeth Borne said « We want this period to take a step forward in cycling culture, and that the bicycle is the little queen of deconfinement in a way ». It is about time … Only a small percentage of French use their bike for daily mobility even when 60% of the distances are less then 5 km. Another reason why I am participating in the project here ‘TOUS A BICYCLETTE‘.
Every 4 years there is a cycling event called Paris-Brest-Paris Randonneur. It was in August last year this event was held and I volunteered to help cyclists as an interpreter. I am a professional technical translator, not an interpreter, but I accepted to do this as voluntary work and was very happy to be able to help some cyclists with their enquiries and difficulties. I spoke with riders from Italy, Spain, Brazil, Japan, Germany, India and more countries.
When the randonneurs pass Villaines la Juhel, the village 4 km from where I live, they are 392 km from Brest and 222 from Paris. 
The total distance they cycle is about 1200 km. It’s a long distance and the first time it was held was in 1891 as a race. Not a race anymore but support by motorized vehicles is prohibited except at checkpoints. Villaines la Juhel is a checkpoint for this oldest long-distance cycling road event.
An event like this shows that there is a worldwide growth in the sport of randonneuring and last year there were more than 6,600 participants from over 66 countries. 
The label above on my mountain bike reminds me of this great event and helps me to climb steep hills …
In our household there are 4 bicycles now, I ride 3 of them depending on the purpose.
The smallest one on the left of the photo is an electric bike my partner uses to go shopping. Most of the time we go together and it’s easy to carry quite some food stuff with the carrier bags. From spring to autumn we hardly ever use our car for short distances. We are planning to have some longer rides this summer to Pré-en-Pail and probably try the ‘voie verte’ passing by Loupfougères heading to Javron-les-chapelles.