Month: August 2018

From Hami to Xingxing Sia, on the G30 motorway, Thierry Rassat has enjoyed good weather conditions. Every time he had police checks, the police asked him if they could take a picture of him.

Visits: 79

In recent days, Youssef and Mohamed Saïd have discovered the diversity of the landscapes of Kazakhstan, the agricultural regions that alternate with arid regions. At Shimbat, the road climbs steadily for 100 km to an altitude of 1200 metres. They have only 800 km left to the Chinese border.

Visits: 53

With the Sun, Françoise Denel found this first stage of mountain easy despite the 1500m of difference. But this highway in the mountains impressed her very much: the passages in the tunnels frightened her and even more, the wind on the bridges suspended above the void.
She met a couple of Chinese tourists: little exchange but a connivance (they do not speak English)… As she did not find a Chinese SIM card, Francoise does not have access to the Internet so no weather forecast, she feels isolated from the rest of the world.

Visits: 55

Stéphane Bertrand arrived in Guangzhou! It finishes in 4th position of the Solar Challenge 2018, with 12700 km travelled.
Stéphane has long been in second place, in the direct wake of Raf Van Hulle. On entering China, Stéphane chose a daring itinerary. But the Chinese authorities forced him to turn back what made him lose four days. In the Gobi desert, he had to face a more unfavourable wind than the first three suntripers.
Then, he had to stop for a day to recover from indigestion and a succession of technical problems we lose to Stéphane all hope to return to the podium. This morning again he had to face an umpteenth puncture, 40 km from the finish, using for the occasion its latest patch!

Visits: 66

François Médalle and Gilles Coural continue their journey amidst the fields of cotton, maize and plots of gardening with numerous irrigation canals. They found Catherine and Didier Pozzobon.
Tomorrow they enter Kazakhstan.

Visits: 61

Stéphane Bertrand touches the goal, here he is near Guangzhou!

Visits: 56

Thanks to Jack Butler for these images of the Great Wall that he filmed with his drone. On this video, we see also the brothers Colle, Camille and Auguste , these 2 suntripers who had to abandon their solar tandem and who continue their journey to Guangzhou on standard bikes!

Visits: 57

Michael Pole takes a break in Almaty for the necessary repairs to his solar bike. It offers a hike to 3300 m in bicycle shoes!

Visits: 55

Eymeric has not been able to communicate for 3 days because of Internet connection. He catches up by offering us very nice pictures. He crosses beautiful landscapes at the Türkmenistan. He had the chance to cross six other bike riders just before bivouac, so they shared their evening in the steppe.

Visits: 72

I have to prepare the itinerary in advance, but recently, I found on some panels the indications of the cities in two scriptures, one of which we understand much better!

Seen along the road: corn that people effeuillent, put to dry and sometimes égrainent. Breakfast: The sweet, a kind of gelatinous milk and the salty, rolls with meat-based stuffing.

Visits: 69

Here is the first picture of the dean of the Sun Trip, Françoise Denel-70 years old, who has just arrived in China! Congratulations on this feat!

Visits: 62

Romain Neauport here delivers his difficult life, to face the cold and the rain in the desert, the punctures…

Visits: 61

« If only I could use all these solar panels for 1 second! »

Visits: 48

Here is what Françoise Denel wrote in her diary of August 14:
"I have lost a bit the notion of time I do not know what day it is; 12 small degrees this morning. Check out a bit late, I know I have a collar to ride, I'd rather have my batteries full. At the beginning small billiards, I tell myself I won everything, not only I have a landscape of hell, a sun as it is not possible, pleasant temperatures, but in addition I have a great road but after 3 km the road again becomes route of Kazakhstan ie Broken, full of holes with longitudinal streaks, putting machine and mount to a strain. The road goes up regularly, everything goes well. "

"I feel the last rib coming, I'm looking for a place to load and appears a small restaurant on the roadside (only shop on 200 km but I took my precautions in water and food). Their specialty of the buns stuffed with goat meat and alas onions, baked in an oval-shaped furnace and glued directly to the wall. I eat a bunch of cows and a little dry bread. The ascent to 12% for 2 km is without problem. "

"I died of fear in the descent, the road is really in very bad shape. Hope that the work of Guillaume, Patrice and Fabien for the brakes is good, phew everything holds. Then a long quiet descent leads into a large breeding valley. A sign with "caution" written in French warns of a danger: risk of wind, flood, explosion of gas (Kazakhstan is full of gas pipes), Pumas, lions, no they are camels… "

"A village in the middle of this plain, fifty houses at most but cows everywhere. The hours pass, the temperature drops, I cover myself. Last stop taste charging batteries. I'm in front of the gorges. I hesitate, I go, I do not go… My batteries are not full, taken by night in gorges this may not be the best thing that can happen to me. Come on I'll go, at worst I'll turn around. Phew the gorges go down, when the state of the road allows to lift the eyes I admire, it is of all beauty, the earth is red then goes to yellow and green. I'm enjoying myself. "

Visits: 68

Yes, Stéphane Bertrand is approaching Guangzhou, but today he has punctured 3 times (morning, noon and evening). It's a pity because the day was rather sunny (the first time in 4 days!) which allowed him to recharge the batteries. But the well damaged portions of the road have greatly disliked his inner tubes…

Visits: 58

"Happiness is only true if it is shared": It is also the motto of Sun Trip! Mickaël Joguet and Éric Morel in representation in Guangzhou, for a moment of exchange organized by our partner France Passion, under the direction of Ting Xie. More than two hours of questions/answers with a Chinese audience in part Francophone and especially interested in this great project coming to them from France. Until the end of September several operations of this kind will be organized in the city, to go in contact with the population, in the presence of the adventurers arrived, under the leadership of Angelica who represents the Sun Trip in China.

Visits: 58

Daniel Jenni and Dirk Huyghe have been riding together for several days in China, they willingly lend themselves to native selfies.

Visits: 57

Do you remember Justin and Anne-Sophie? And their tandem on which they pedaled and rowed?

At the Lac du Bourget Campground in June

Well, they interrupted their Sun trip journey after reaching Tehran in Iran, from where they flew to Canada to celebrate their wedding! All our wishes for happiness to Anne-Sophie and Justin!

Visits: 70

While other suntripers are imbued with millennial culture and history, Mickaël Joguet feels immersed in « the New World » :

Visits: 56

François and Gilles, accompanied by Jean-Claude, Catherine and Didier, discover the beautiful city of Samarkand and they are sensitive to the reception and kindness of the people. On the Silk Road, between China and the Mediterranean, Samarkand is one of the oldest towns and was one of the largest cities in Central Asia. During the various occupations, Samarkand sheltered diverse religious communities. It is home to several religions such as Buddhism, Zoroastrianism, Hinduism, Manicheism, Judaism… The Registan, the ancient heart of the town of Samarkand, is surrounded by three madrassahs: the Madrasah of Oulough Beg, the Madrasah Cher-Dor and the Madrasah Tilla-Qari.

Visits: 59

Today Stéphane Bertrand has surpassed the city of Changsha (长沙市). To date, he has travelled more than 12 250 km and he remains about 650 km to arrive in Canton. The closest suntriper behind him is Herman Segers who is 900 km away from the goal.

Visits: 44

Eymeric Thuliez had a great day today! He says: "With my music in my ears, I felt like I was in a movie crossing the steppe. We take his mind as we can on a bike! Last night I was greeted in a mosque to eat and sleep. Adorable people even though communication was difficult without connection (and therefore without translation). "

Visits: 62

After 52 days of travel, Éric Morel arrived in third place in Canton, behind Raf Van Hulle (45 days) and Mickaël Joguet (50 days). During his crossing of Kazakhstan, Eric distinguished himself by a record, that of the greatest distance travelled on a solar bike in 1 day: 427 km!

Visits: 79

Éric Morel will arrive tomorrow in Guangzhou (Canton) in third position, behind Raf Van Hulle and Mickaël Jogurt. He will have taken 52 days to make this trip France-China with its solar bike.

Visits: 52

After leaving Aktobe and then surpassed Khoramsho, Youssef and Mohamed Saïd traverse semi-desert areas and the weather is not favorable: it rains during the second part of the day most of the time. The clouds prevent a good recharge of the battery and the side winds require important muscular efforts. All of this makes their progression difficult. They arrived at the Aral Sea and hope to reach Baikonur tomorrow. They have travelled more than 7000 miles since they left.

Visits: 71