Seven European countries and more than 7,000 km cycled to raise awareness of the consequences of global warming and encourage people to cycle.
This is the challenge that Daniel Rayneau-Kirkhope and Arianna Casiraghi set themselves with their dog, in order to design a bicycle using GPS data from their trip.
In all, their journey will have lasted 131 days spread over… four years, reports the Guardian.
Read alsoGlobal warming: jostled, the media are changing the way they talk about it
While pedaling took them about four months in total, it was a winding road to get to this result.
The couple sold their car at the beginning of 2019 and set off from the town of Orta San Guilio in Italy in July 2019. But the tracing of the bike really began in the village of Vy-lès-Lure, except that they had to stop very quickly due to a knee injury of the 40-year-old woman.
Resuming the trip in November 2019 also fell short as the temperatures were too low to camp.
Finally, the objective of finding the road in March 2020 was swept away like many projects by the coronavirus and the border closures.
Finally, the couple of physics researchers, who resigned before their departure, went through France, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands.
They hit the road again in June 2022 and completed their drawing on August 9 in the village of Compogne in Belgium.
For this expedition, Daniel, 35, built the two bikes himself, including a freighter that accommodated Zola, the couple's dog.
She lived in this box with tents, sleeping bags and food.
“We tried to camp most of the time, but sometimes we stayed at hotels or homestays with Covid-19,” describes Arianna.
To warn about global warming, a couple therefore decided to swallow more than 7,000 km by bike, by carrying out a GPS track in their effigy.
I say respect.
👏#ThursdayPhoto pic.twitter.com/KzLNXDa2Pr
— Clement Senechal (@ClemSenechal) August 18, 2022
It's all been worth it since the trip should also earn them three world records in the process of being set: the largest GPS drawing ever, the largest image of this nature drawn using a bicycle and the most obvious: the biggest bike ever designed.
Alert on the climate and encourage pedaling
Despite medical and weather constraints, the couple was able to enjoy the landscapes of seven European countries.
But the objective is not touristic.
With this initiative, the couple wants to warn about the climatic situation and the worsening of meteorological phenomena such as droughts or heat waves.
For them, starting to pedal, “is participating on your own scale in trying not to aggravate the situation”.
“At least consider cycling – it's fun, and it's great – cheaper and healthier,” they encourage.
"We love cycling and like everyone else we have become more aware of climate change and wanted to add our voice," they told the Guardian.
For them, this initiative can lead people “to get on bikes and move around in a more sustainable way” and the idea of designing the bike came next: “We can't even remember who came up with the idea.
But it seemed like the best and funniest way to get our point across.
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In August 2019, before having to interrupt her journey, Arianna had also pointed out to La République du Center that these 7,000 km were only "the first part of their project".
The couple would indeed like in the coming months “to go further south in Europe, to Spain, to Croatia and try to stop in the schools”.
Talking to as many people as possible, and especially the youngest, about new forms of mobility is part of the couple's objective.