Sphere-trotter SDF : a challenge for the life

The beginning of this adventure started with a drama so banal a long time ago that it does not make the newspapers any more : the closing-down of a factory in the north of France.

For Yann Laurent, that meant entry into the world of the unemployed, intersected with training courses, temporary contracts and odd jobs. But all that does not lead to anything, and the day arrives when the allowances run out.

With the 300 $ to survive, he cannot pay his rent any more : it is the street ! No work, no housing and…no friends. He starts to be afraid.

Yann ? … finished at 39 years ? : “If I must sink, it will be standing upright", he says, "and if it has to be with the street, I will spend as much time as I can seeing the country”. He then decides to make a tour of France with his bicycle !

With the little money he has left, after having placed his pieces of furniture in a small room paying a cheap rent, he equips his bicycle for the long journey with reinforced rims, 32" tyres (inflated to 5 bars), luggage stand, satchels, lights, water tanks, a basket and food for his dog… Ah, it is true ! I forgot to speak to you about Jumbo, his dog "high like three apples", but intelligent and malignant to start with ! !

This very well equipped bicycle weighs… 60 kg ! That did not prevent him from climbing all the large colls of France and Navarre: a true sporting challenge !

Parting on July 10, 2006 from Chauny in Aisne, Yann has zigzagged since across all of France. For a small idea of his journey, here is the order of the principal cities by which he travelled. [hold your breath !] :
Paris, Orleans, Saint-Nazaire, Royan, Bordeaux, Pau, Castrate, Tarbes, Nogaro, Condon, Cahors, Brive-the-Strapping woman, Limoges, the Underground one, Orleans (again), Paris, Toul, Nancy, Strasbourg, Colmard, Mulhouse, Belfort, Montbeliard, Bourg en Bresse, Lyon, Vienna, Grenoble, Vif, Sisteron, Vinon, all re-installed at Verdon until Castellane, then Menton, Nice, Toulon and finally Saint Cyr on sea where I met him.

His meter today reads 5776 km ! And, he continues on to Marseilles, Nimes, Ales, Clermont-Ferrand. Thereafter, we will see…

He travels approximately 60 km per day. Because he says: “In this journey, I learned that the body has to be respected, I avoid going beyond some limits”. But every day he doesn't necessarily travel. According to the beauty of the country or the chance of a happy encounter, sometimes he may stay 2 or 3 days at the same place.

In his adventure Yann comes close to many people: “Some appear egoistic or pretentious, others on the other hand were open and generous, such as the gendarme who offered lodging and shelter to me", and he adds "I acknowledge that I am reconciled with mankind”.

You should know that Yann travels on very limited means. To eat, he calls upon “popular help sometimes” and sleeps, rolled up in his sleeping bag, either under beautiful stars or in a shelter of fortune.
He also does casual work whenever he can find it.

For the technically minded, Yann has replaced 9 sets of brake shoes, a set of tyres and has had 6 punctures. If you are surprised at the consumption of brake shoes, imagine the descent of a coll, with a crew of more than130 kg (dog included/understood) that it is necessary to slow down at each turn !

On the road, with his bicycle and his dog Jumbo, Yann has created his own universe, and even if it is one which is hard and difficult, it gave him a goal to his life. If one day, by chance you meet him, do not hesitate to walk some part of the way with him. You will not regret it.

Saint Cyr on sea, on Wednesday May 9, 2007

Roland G.