2 Nomads

Janick Lemieux is originally from St. Hyacinthe, Quebec but moved to Western Canada in 1991. Since then, she has travelled the world, first with a backpack then from the saddle of a mountain bike. Pierre Bouchard, born in Quebec City, left Université Laval’s Faculty of Philosophy classrooms in 1990 to undertake what Descartes called the study of “The Great Book of the World”…on his bicycle!

The Canadian duet shares life and road since 1997. Together, they combine more than 200,000 kilometres of pedalled adventures in about 60 countries of the Americas, Europe, Asia and Oceania. In May, 1999, following of crossing of Asia’s hinterland from the Sea of Okhotsk to the Bay of Bengal, they undertook to patrol onboard their faithful mounts the geologically volatile zones and human hot spots of the Pacific Ring of Fire, a « cyclovolcanic » quest searching for the diverse peoples and numerous volcanoes found all around the Earth’s largest ocean.

A decade later, taking advantage of an extended stay at their Charlevoix, Quebec “basecamp”, the couple planned and conducted test rides in the heart of La Belle Province’s wild outback in order to probe its potential for mutli-day off-road cycling adventures. In a project called “Trans-ZEC Quebec”, they crossed the whole width of the province in two pedalled transects : a first one, in 2010, stretching between the Ottawa river and the Saguenay fjord, and the second one, in 2012, starting from the source of the Malbaie river and ending on the shore of Gaspé Bay. News and reports of the 2,500 km endeavour triggered a lot of interest and the project inspires local organizations to work together on the creation of a network of marked dirt roads, tracks and trails that would draw cyclists and more nature lovers in the woods of Québec.

Janick and Pierre gave hundreds of lectures about their adventures before tens of thousands of people in North America, Europe and New Zealand. They’ve published reports and images in magazines and websites from the world’s four corners: Vélo Mag (cycling/Canada), Géo Plein Air (outdoor/Canada), L’Actualité (current affairs/Canada), La Semaine (current affairs/Canada), Temps Libre (travel/Canada), Go (travel/Canada), Müv (travel/Canada), Outpost (travel/Canada), Pedal (cycling/Canada), Adventure Cyclist (cycling/USA), Espaces (outdoor/Canada), Coast (outdoor/Canada), Bike (cycling/USA), MTB Pro (cycling/U.K.), Cycling NZ (cycling/New Zealand), Action Asia (sports & outdoors/ Hong Kong), VTT (cycling/France), Vélo Tout Terrain (cycling/France), Bikers O2 (cycling/Belgium), Outdoor Japan (outdoor/Japan), ASAdventure (outdoor/Belgium) and many daily and weekly newspapers.

One mission

To pedal, travel, encounter, photograph, film, record, note, share, testify, publish, and broadcast in order to expose realities and raise awareness about far-away situations, link and connect distant cultures and individuals, bring them closer, make them more familiar with one another, and thus contribute to the creation and the preservation of a solidarity, sisterhood and brotherhood, genuinely human.

Le Grand Cycle – english subtitles from Kyril Dubé.

 

Cyclography

The initiation : Québec City/Miami (May/August, 1989). 4000 km.
Pierre solo during his last student Summer holiday.

North American loop (+ Hawaii) : Québec City/Québec City (Mai, 1990/November, 1992). 34 000 km.
Pierre and Steeve Bellemare alias the « Velcro Bros ».

Northern Europe saga : Hautes Alpes/Hautes Alpes via Iceland (April/October, 1993). 10 000 km.
Pierre and Steeve Bellemare alias the « Velcro Bros ».

The Great Crossing : Hautes Alpes/Lake Baïkal (April/October, 1994). 10 000 km.
Pierre and Steeve Bellemare alias the « Velcro Bros ».

Forbidden China : Beijing/Chongqing (Mai/August, 1995). 3000 km.
Pierre and Steeve Bellemare alias the « Velcro Bros ».

Southeast Asia : Hong Kong/Singapore (January/June, 1996). 10 000 km.
Pierre solo.

Kiwiland : New-Zealand (July/November, 1996). 4000 km.
Pierre solo. Janick journeys there for 2 months and tries out bike touring.

Shortcut to the beach : Magadan, Russia/Bubaneshwar, India (May, 1997/Feb., 1998). 10 000 km.
Janick and Pierre.

Cycling the Pacific Ring of Fire part 1 : Vancouver/Santiago (May, 1999/June, 2001). 25 000 km.
Janick and Pierre.

Cycling the Pacific Ring of Fire part 2 : Santiago/Jakarta (October, 2002/April, 2004). 11 000 km.
Janick and Pierre.

Cycling the Pacific Ring of Fire part 3 : Jakarta/Vancouver (Jan., 2006/Feb., 2009). 24 000 km.
Janick and Pierre.

Trans-ZEC Quebec part 1: Fort-Coulonge/L’Anse-Saint-Jean (June 2010). 1050 km.
Janick and Pierre.

Trans-ZEC Quebec part 2: Malbaie river source/Gaspé (August 2012). 1300 km.
Janick, Pierre Réjean Labbé, and Emmanuel Pinochet.

NOMADS² | Part 1 cycling odyssey: Norway/Tanzania (June, 2014/April, 2016). 21,000 km.
Janick and Pierre.

Anticosti bikepacking loop (June, 2017). 390 km.
Janick and Pierre.

MANIC 555 bikepacking project (June, 2019). 555 km.
Janick and Pierre.

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