Day 92 - 31 km
Saint-Jean de Maurienne - Saint Francois Longchamp
Today we climbed, you won’t believe it, the ‘Col de la Madelaine,’ known from the Tour de France. Never before has a bicycle with a tree on the back defied this ‘col’. Ok, we haven’t made it all the way to the top yet, but we have already covered fifteen of the twenty kilometers and climbed over eleven hundred meters. What a beautiful climb and what a beautiful day. Two days ago the women of the “Tour de Femme” cycled up here. And today our tree bike, great right? This morning we arrive from our log cabin in Saint-Colomban-des-Villards around eleven o’clock in St. Jean de Maurienne, where our first action at the town hall is to bring a tree and a forest book for mayor Philippe Rollet. His close collaborator Chiraze Mzati welcomed us and was super excited, she suggested planting the tree with the school children. We gave eight little trees, one for each elementary school. From the town hall, today’s stage begins through the valley with an eleven kilometer relatively flat route along the river and through the small Alpine villages to Sante-Marie de Cuines where we take a photo in front of the town hall where no one is there. Before we really start the climb we have a coffee and there Piet Minten and Katia Booghs from Ghent arrive, both fellow landscape architects. They had already seen us and came to find us, they love our project and cycle the first kilometers up with us. What a nice spontaneous meeting. Piet teaches in Brussels, maybe I can give a presentation there one day about Circle4Change. The climb up is very tough but also great. Daan, Sanne and Liesbeth bike along and Richard and Vincent drive both cars. The bikes are actually not at all suitable for these slopes but still manage. A great achievement. I now understand much better what the Tour cyclists feel when you see them struggle uphill. One long continuous slope of six to ten percent. And occasionally even steeper. At these times, the Boomfiets runs out of power, and Daan helps the Boomfiets back up every few hundred meters by pushing it. Let’s face it, we wouldn’t have made it this far today without Daan. After five kilometers of climbing, out of a total of twenty, we take a lunch break in the shade of a tree. Just to relax. It’s a good thing we don’t know what we still have to climb or you really wouldn’t start. The reactions of the people we meet are great, everyone is super enthusiastic. That does some good. No one has seen a tree cycling up here before. The views get more spectacular by the mile, we are approaching the tree line. It is already around six when Richard and Sanne together conclude that we shouldn’t want to make the summit because it is still five kilometers, and that we should stop for the day in Saint Francois Longchamp, where we are just entering. I still prattle on a bit, eager to make the summit, but they are right. It’s enough for today. We drink a beer to the already achieved result, Sanne and Liesbeth do the shopping while we park the tree bike next to a group of trees so that the tree will be in the shade as much as possible tomorrow. Because tomorrow is our non-cycling day and we will stay at our accommodation in Saint-Colomban-des-Villards. We have two birthdays tomorrow, Vincent and also Vera, who was there last week and is coming back with Leo to celebrate her birthday with us. Wednesday we will then bike from Saint Francois Longchamp first to the top of “the Madelaine,” with five more kilometers a considerable task, before sliding downhill to Alberville. Today was another day we will not soon forget. It is almost impossible to properly describe the unique experience, the overwhelming feeling and the effort required. With photos and videos Vincent, Richard and Sanne have recorded this wonderful day as best as possible, so that we can at least show that after cycling three thousand kilometers through eight countries, our tree bike has now cycled up the ‘Col de la Madelaine’. I wonder what the next six weeks, until we arrive in Leeuwarden, will bring. In any case, no one will take this top day away from us!
Tue Aug 5 - Day 93
Today, on our non-cycling day, we stay at our log cabin in Saint-Colomban-des-Villards. The weather is beautiful and we are still enjoying our climb yesterday. For much of the day we sit at our computers and phones for socials, the route, archiving images, bookings, emails and report. Thus, the day flies by interspersed with lunch, planting two trees for the two birthdays, and of course enjoying the banquet together. Besides the birthdays, it is also a nice day to reflect on our team of Daan, Richard, Sanne and me. For we may well conclude that what we do and how we do it is very special. This Tour is not an easy job and the utmost is asked of everyone to keep everything on track. Daan takes care of the trees, arranges the charging of all the batteries, does the financial administration and jumps in wherever needed. Richard, in addition to drone work, is the one who arranges the bookings for our stays and maintains communication with them, in addition, he is usually our regular driver, and he too jumps in wherever needed. Sanne, in addition to taking photos and videos of our Tour, takes care of the socials, i.e. the report on polarsteps, instagram and LinkedIn, in addition she is the chef of the kitchen, takes care of the shopping lists and makes sure the food is on the table every day. And like Daan and Richard, she also sees where something needs to be done and it’s done before it needs to be talked about. And in addition to the general coordination of the Tour, I take care of the planning, finances and communication to municipalities, press, and the other team members who are not traveling along but help in the background, the daily report and the emails that come in. Of course I am forgetting all sorts of important things to mention. For example, together we are responsible for the daily operations, the tour of the Boomfiets with the accompanying bikes, moving from one location to another, and so on. In short, it’s a huge job and we are great together. We hear the same from those who spend a day cycling with us. And we should be very proud of that. I am not the person who gives out compliments easily. Too often I am too directive, there is always room for improvement and there is always something that needs to be done. Sharpening ambition is always lurking. That is not always easy for the team. But after more than ninety days of traveling through Europe together, on this surely unique journey, we got to know each other well. Everyone has their own use cases, thankfully, and we’re doing great. We are on the pre-conceived schedule with the Boomfiets, handing out birthday trees daily, making new contacts with municipalities and interested parties, handing out leaflets and spreading our story as best we can through press and socials. And yes in many areas we still have many wishes. We see where we can do even better. But within the limitations of capacity, time and available financial resources, we are doing very well on this first Tour with the Boomfiets through Europe. I am super proud of our team and what we have already achieved together through our intensive cooperation. Of course, I should shout this out loud every day, but unfortunately I never get around to it. And that’s why it’s good to write it down! Here it is.