Photos and captions by Pierre Bouchard and Janick LemieuxWorld cyclotourists talk about their motivation

A World of Beauty and Diversity

A view from Daman, aNepalese settlementperched high on a ridge ofthe Himalayan front range.From here, one can seeeight of our planet's tentallest peaks — from theAnnapurnas to Everest.Nepal, January 1998.

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Cascade Lakes Scenic BywayWe stopped for lunch at a roadsideturnout with snowy Mt. Bachelorgleaming in the distance. Skiingwas great and the Sisters andBroken Top volcanoes looked sub-lime draped in their purest white.Central Oregon, June 1999.

Sweet Spot Meeting on the porch of our idyllicoceanfront campsite where we delivered newsand views from the oustide world to Chief Mowaand his fellow villagers on the east coast of theisland of Epi, one of the New Hebrides. Vanuatu.September 2003.

There’s a little bit of every touringcyclist in Pierre Bouchard and JanickLemieux. Like all of us, the intrepidCanadian couple are adventurous, self-reliant, and driven by a burning desire toexplore by bicycle. Their drive, however,seems to have a couple of extra gears.Consider that for the last seventeen years,and somewhere in the range of 70,000miles, they’ve been riding and taking photo-graphs nearly nonstop on every continenton the planet — as seen, in part, in theirphoto essay “Andean Impressions” in theMay 2006 issue of Adventure Cyclist).

We talked with Pierre and Janick attheir home in Quebec City as they werepreparing to leave for Bali and the third andfinal leg of their epic Ring of Fire tour thatis taking them on an eight-year, 30,000-mile tour of all the major volcanoes alongthe Pacific Rim.

AC: How did you first get into bicycle travel?Pierre: I used to spend summers in

college backpacking in Europe, then I saw acouple flying by on their loaded bikes, theywaved hello as they went by and I thought,‘wow, that’s the way to go.’

So, after graduating from college inMay 1990, I decided to spend two yearsbefore getting my masters riding in Europeand Africa. Then my friend Steve Bellemareand I decided, ‘To heck with the two years,let’s take five years and ride around theworld.’ So we went from Canada back toCanada staying in the NorthernHemisphere.

Janick: I was nineteen when I metPierre in Whistler. He was giving aslideshow on his trip and it opened my eyesto what you could do on a bike, it was arevelation to me that you could go so faraway on a bicycle. So I started dreamingabout it and then Pierre asked me to live onthe road with him and I thought, ‘I’ll give ita try.’ That was ten years ago.

I’m not particularly athletic, so at first Iwas intimidated. But then I did a few dayrides with Pierre and realized that youdon’t have to be an Olympic athlete. Andwhen you travel on a bike, it’s not a race.

A Conversation withPierre and Janick

The crater lake of Irazu volcanoThe reward for a grueling climbfrom San Jose. We reached thesummit the previous day so wecould get an early-morning start tothe volcano’s summit, which tendsto disappear daily behind a curtainof heavy clouds. The never-endingdescent to Carthago made our visitto Irazu taste even sweeter. CostaRica, May 2000.

Tropical Paradise Camping on the islandof Moorea, Tahiti's closest neighbor.Remnants from the sinking volcano-crater walls, jagged and dramatic pinna-cles stand like sentinels over the milkylagoon. French Polynesia, May 2003.

Feathered Friend A Mexican artistand eccentric proudly wearing oneof his creations. Baja, Mexico,October 1999.

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Rejoicing the Chinese New YearPedalling through Guangdong andGuangxi, I was continually stoppedby people to take pictures, share adrink or meal, and even to accept-gifts of money. China, February1996.

Wild Desert Tracks (Above) Primitive tracks of thenorthern Gobi Desert shift constantly making roadmaps less than reliable. When in doubt, we’d waitfor a sharp-eyed herdsman and ask for directions.This led to invitations to drink airag (fermentedmare’s milk) and visits to the family ger wherewarm hospitality would inevitably be lavished on us.

Mongolia, August 1997.

Tibet’s Chengdu-Lhasa road (Below) Wehoped to avoid travelling during winter on

this North-South crossing of Asia’s hinterlandbut we quickly realized that it would be acold and snowy ride when we reached the

summit of the first of a series of twenty-seven mountain passes. Tibet, November 1997.

Pierre: She was not a cyclist at all, butlike we say, ‘The most important muscle isbetween your ears,’ and she had that. So wedecided to ride together through Asia’s hin-terland and across the Tibetan Plateau.That was in early winter, 1997.

AC: Good thinking. Pick an easy ride to startwith. So, how did that go?

Pierre: It took nine months. We start-ed in Siberia, through Mongolia, across thePlateau, the Himalayas, and ended in theBay of Bengal, India. Up there it was usual-ly around eight degrees Celsius during theday, most nights were minus 10 or 20. Werode as high as 5,225 meters, and wentover twenty-seven passes in Tibet.

Then, in the tent one night, when itwas fifteen-below, we said, ‘if we make itout of here alive, what are we going to do?’

Janick: We wanted to maintain ourlifestyle and we loved mountains. But wewanted warmer ones.

Pierre: So we decided on the Ring ofFire. We’d get four continents, all types ofweather and ecological zones, and we’dhave a theme. We’d learn about one of theearth’s major formative processes, volcan-ism, and about many world cultures. Plusit’s great material for presentations.

AC: With all of the riding you do, how do youearn a living?

Pierre: Since 1997, all of our moneycomes from selling stories and photos tomagazines. I’ve contributed to Pedal maga-zine for eighteen years. Every second issuegives an update on our travels. We’re alsoregular contributors to Velo Mag. And we’regetting free gear now because of the expo-sure in mags. We’re good testers for them,because we are so hard on the equipment.

AC: What’s the hardest ride you’veever done?

Pierre: The mostphysically challengingthing I’ve done on abike is crossing theTibetan Plateau in thewinter. If there’s such a thing asstretching beyond your limits, I did it there.When I find myself in trouble, I ask myself,‘am I in worse trouble than I was then,’ and

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Northern Vietnam Miao-Yao womendressed in traditional garb. Vietnam,February 1996.

Ni-Vanuatu men curious about thestrange couple on over-burdenedbikes. Vanuatu, August 2003.

Graceful Mayan girls reluctantlypose for the insistent and unnervingvisitor. Guatemala, February 2000

Chopstick lessons in the twinhomonymous provinces of Shaanxiand Shanxi. China, June 1995.

A Tibetan man with a contagioussmile, greets us on the FriendshipHighway. Tibet, December 1997.

Hmong kids in a hill-tribe hamletnested high up in the mountains.March 1996.

Caravan Contemporary Chinese-eraTibetan rig traveling the dustyFriendship Highway. Tibet, December1997.

Stormy weather ahead Riding fromone coconut grove to anotheraround Karkar, a circular island offthe town of Madang, on NewGuinea’s north coast. The heart ofthe island is an overlapping doublecaldera animated by a lethal andexplosive volcano, Mt. Bagiai. PapuaNew Guinea, January 2004.

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the answer is always no, that still sets thestandard.

Janick: The Tibetan Plateau was myfirst bicycle journey and after that I hadnothing left to prove to myself. After thateverything came easy, but nothing washarder and I’ve never been sicker. I wasinnocent about it and figured that washow hard it was supposed to be.

AC: What do you love most about bicycletravel?

Pierre: It’s the best way to see theworld. You’re totally immersed in theenvironment — you feel it with yourskin, you smell it, you hear it. I lovecamping and being outdoors.

The most peaceful way to arrive in aforeign community is on a loaded bike.Everyone comes to see you. They’re curi-ous, they want to know what you’re upto. They’re not threatened. They knowyou got there by pushing those pedals, somaybe it tells them a little about yourintentions. Then they think it must havebeen hard for you to get there and maybeyou need something to eat, or a shower.

I’m still studying philosophy like Idid in school. But now I’m studying whata French philosopher calls the great bookof the world.

AC: Out of all the places you’ve been, what’syour favorite?

Pierre: I love the Andean altiplano.In Bolivia, northern Chile, and Argentina.It’s challenging and the most surreal. Ilove that place. My favorite country isIndonesia. You could say I’m anIndonesia-philiac.

Janick: Mexico … and all of SouthAmerica, or Chile. I love Japan. Indonesiais always great … I mean I can just go onand on.

AC: What are you guys going to do whenthe Ring of Fire ride is over?

Janick: We’re going to write a bookabout the trip, with lots of photos. Wewant to give presentations in Europe, too.We want to focus on sharing this trip fora while … but not for more than twoyears. We still haven’t ridden acrossAfrica.