New Zealand’s new challenge to Pierre Robin after more than 40,000 kilometers by bike

Clermont-Ferrand in Puy-de-Dôme is the departure point for all of Pierre Robin’s excursions. With over 40,000 kilometers on his bike now, this active retiree is on the cusp of discovering New Zealand.

Depuis qu’il a pris sa retraite de directeur du service des sports de la ville de Clermont-Ferrand dans le Puy-de-Dôme, Pierre Robin ne compte plus les années (il a 72 ans) mais les kilomètres effectués sur toutes les routes From the world. ” I drove at 5200m anyway mischievous says, When I think about it, I think it’s my greatest achievement. As a result, I became a great athlete We can respond with the compliment, who was also the president of Stade Clermontois.

« My bike I talk to him, I talk to him a lot He said. ” Moreover, it is the fifth element of travel. We have the body that spins, the mind that wanders, and you’re the third person in between, and that’s not always easy ».

Pierre Robin has many stories when he returns to his home in Clermont-Ferrand. On his computer browse photos of his travels: ” Here is Belarus, 600 kilometers in a straight line, with no one. Only one coffee shop up the whole way however I went to a small village out of the way. It was the great Soviet era, I met great people, I slept in the changing rooms of the stadium, it’s amazing ».

In 2008, the Olympic year, he joined Clermont-Ferrand in Beijing, which hosted the Olympics, a feat praised by Chinese television upon his arrival. ” These are geographical journeys but also in time. The watch is no longer useful. We work at sunrise and sunset. Life goes on in a natural way, there are no longer any restrictions, it is the fact of making an effort, being alone, and actually rethinking so many things in your life, to do that introspection. I really like that old saying that says: Travel passes from oneself to oneself through others. I think it all boils down to this sentence ».

After visiting more than 40 countries around the world, Morocco in 2006, Iceland in 2008, South Africa in 2010, Scandinavia in 2012, Cambodia in 2013, South Korea and Japan in 2014, Alaska-Canada in 2016 and northern Quebec in 2020, Pierre Robin plans to discover New Zealand. “You can’t take that kind of trip if you don’t have optimism, without being a happy optimist, an optimist that makes things easier. I think that’s probably what allowed me to go around the world between 40 and 50 latitudes because I’ve walked around the world from Claremont to the far north And Lima as far south as Ushuaia, and… there you go, it’s something I’ll stay with me for the rest of my life, and it’s not over yet! »

Between two trips, Pierre Robin writes travel memoirs all bearing the same title: “Whirlpool Corridors,” a way of self-definition.