COLLECTIONS

25/10

1% for the Planet Action | WINGS OF THE OCEAN

1% for the Planet Action | WINGS OF THE OCEAN Each year, as members of 1% for the Planet, Café du Cycliste donates a percent of its revenue to charities and organisations working to protect the environment and promote sustainable development. In 2023, Café du Cycliste has carefully chosen six associations with which we have common DNA and values. One of these six associations is Wings of the Ocean. Established in 2018, Wings of the Ocean aims to clean up coastlines and raise public awareness of environmental issues and pollution, particularly due to plastic. Over the last five months, they have engaged amongst no less than 12,493 people, organized 230 awareness-raising activities and 173 clean-ups, with a total of 34 tonnes of waste collected. Wings of the Ocean field investigations allow them to highlight issues and provide eco-responsible and sustainable solutions. Wings of the Ocean association raises awareness among people through depollution, which allows it to make pollution visible, but also by proposing clear actions. La Mission Sud / The South Mission This depollution and awareness project used a volunteer team roaming from Sète to Nice on France’s southern seaboard for four months. The Mission Sud team addresses different themes such as plastic pollution but also the solutions that exist. During their actions they highlight: micro-plastic and human plastic consumption; mermaid tears (shards of plastic and glass) and the plastic industry; cigarette butts and micro-particles; bio-media (fibres from textiles) and problematic bacteria; the importance of sea lines and tides; and the solutions and actions that they can implement as individuals. The association raises awareness with an educational aim and the objective is to make the public think so that they put their own consumption practices into perspective. For almost three years, the South Mission has aimed to raise awareness amongst vacationers, boaters, tourism professionals and local populations to be the first actors of change. This 2023 season, the South Mission lasted four months and welcomed 15 volunteers, to take the time to meet people and propose targeted actions depending on the territory and to highlight plastic pollution. Their roaming by bike allowed them to reach more people and territories with unique specificities. They have covered nearly 648.6 km this season. Thus, the South Mission is the most neutral mission in terms of carbon dioxide emissions and allows volunteers to discover ‘slow travel’. Like previous seasons, the Mission Sud team left Sète to go to Nice. They had the opportunity to go to towns such as Les Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer, Bandol or even the island of Saint-Honorat to meet their partners and continue their inter-association dynamic. They mainly make stopovers of one week per location and take up residence in partner campsites. The Mission Sud team carried out nearly 38 clean-ups along the French Mediterranean coast and collected a total of approximately 2,200 kg of litter. The clean-ups last around two hours and the waste collected is evaluated via the Mer Terre association platform to help highlight specific local issues. Throughout the season, they mainly found plastic waste such as: plastic bottles; bio-media; ammunition wads and pellets; capsules; corks; cotton buds; mermaid tears; plastic straws; lollipop sticks; and of course cigarette butts, the scourge of coastal beaches with nearly 38,167 units collected. Awareness Data Throughout the season, the Mission Sud team raised awareness among local populations but also among tourist populations. ● Organized 54 awareness actions ● Raised awareness among around 1,408 people ● Participated in the Les Jardins Sonores Festival, World Clean Up Day as well as heritage days ● Offered awareness stands and workshops at local markets ● Created zero waste and vegan aperitifs ● Organized film debates during the summer season ● Imagined more militant actions such as sit-ins or putting up awareness posters Plogging action with Café du Cycliste, the Nice Plogging collective, and Bleu Gorgone association. At the end of September, the South Mission finished its journey in Nice after four months of roaming by bike. Café du Cycliste, the Bleu Gorgone association, and the Nice Plogging collective joined forces and organized a clean-up operation on the Nice sea wall. In one hour and with the help of 44 people, we collected 220 kg of waste: - 120kgs of glass - 20kg of plastic - 1,500 cigarette butts - 255 caps - 370 bottle caps Conference at the Café du Cycliste The day ended with a conference in our store on the port of Nice with the Wings of The Ocean association and accompanied by the Bluenery Academy. The Bluenery Academy is a freediving and breathing school in Villefranche-sur-mer founded by Guillaume Nery, multiple freediving world champion and Caravan Café du Cycliste athlete. Café du Cycliste and Guillaume Nery introduced this conference before giving the floor to Wings of the Ocean who discussed the threat of plastic pollution to our marine habitats. This is a problem that Café du Cycliste truly want to address and help support awareness of. As a company based in Nice, between the sea and the mountains, protecting the ocean is critical for us, and the rest of the World. READ MORE RIDE & CREATE: Jade Robertson. It's clear that Jade’s cycling life feeds directly into her art. Movement and textures fly out of the canvas like the road or trails in front of you. 1% For The Planet. 1% for the Planet is a step on the path to making our business started on the Côte d’Azur give back to the natural world. RIDE AND CREATE | Isabel Del Real. A friend of Café du Cycliste, she visited Nice recently to talk about her passion for long distance cycling and how it powers her artistry. SOPHIE GATEAU | Adventure in the Ardennes. Forests alternate with steep valleys, peat bogs with verdant pastures, moors with rocky escarpments, and multiple rivers with ancient stone villages.

COLLECTIONS

30/06

Isabel Del Real: A bike, a drawing kit and a graphic novel later

Isabel Del Real : A bike, a drawing kit and a graphic novel later Isabel Del Real – long-distance cyclist and ‘documentary cartoonist’ – came to Nice to share her story and brush strokes with us. The globe-pedalling bike-packer and water-colourist hosted a discussion at the Café about her far-out adventures. After graduating from Law school in Paris Isabel decided to leave it all behind and bike-pack her way from Brittany to Teheran (‘a random destination I chose to shock my grandma.’) ‘I wanted to ride the Silk Road and see these places I’d read about.’ Her imagination nourished, Isabel built her bike and adventure companion with the help of friends: a Surly Ogre equipped with second-hand panniers – designed for exploring and riding further afield. And so, she set off east to see the mountains. ‘Shkhara is the highest point in the country of Georgia [5,193m], located near the Russian border, in Russia's Kabardino-Balkaria region on the northern side, and the Svaneti region of Georgia in the south.’ She documented the journey with her water colours in a travel diary and from this has created a graphic novel titled Plouheran (Plouër-sur-Rance, her little village in Brittany, and Tehran the ultimate goal). Here is a recap of her experience and advice for those looking to to strike out on their own bikepacking adventures; as told to an audience in June 2023. The Journey It was my first experience of bikepacking, completely alone. Everything is new. You have to gain confidence. My first time in a bivouac, looking for a place to set up: either close to the towns or very far away. The unfamiliar noises and creaks, the smells, the sensations. Where would I take shelter, where would I hide my tent, to be discreet, and leave no trace? My first scares in Lozère after a night lulled by the legend of the Gévaudan beast. Then all was forgotten. Perhaps the wolf wasn't that hungry. Then onto Italy, where I met Sebastiano in the Veneto, and followed him all the way to Slovenia. Then on through the Balkans to Greece and Turkey. Along the way I would meet other travellers, following and sharing stretches of road, meals together on stoves, improvised cooking over gas bottles, always with the stars on the ceiling for entertainment. In Turkey, I took a break, drawing and trying to perfect my skills. A visit from my parents and a small parcel from Café du Cycliste warmed my heart. By the time I left Istanbul, I knew a few words to talk to people. I took the ferry across the Bosphorus. I crossed desert landscapes, sometimes alone but often with travelling companions. Then the along the Black Sea, with lush vegetation and humidity. And finally I arrived in Georgia, with its famous mountain to climb before winter: the Shkhara. But I had to be quick, as the bears were getting ready to hibernate, so best not to hang around too long... A short tour of Armenia before heading into Iran (its borders open after two years) where I gabbled the Farsi language, met some expats and stumbled upon a music festival. At the end of the journey, reaching Tehran I’d cycled 15,000 km in 10 months, and done lots of drawing. If you're as curious as I was about such a journey, go out and buy some books, read Ella Maillart, Parmi la Jeunesse Russe or La Voie Cruelle (a solo cycling trip in Afghanistan). Enough to transport you, and give you a few cravings. The Graphic Novel Thanks to this trip, I've found something else; drawing and writing stories, telling what I see through smoke bubbles... There were no plans to draw at the beginning, it was just a matter of finding the right medium. For me this this has become just as important as the journey, if not more so. I read and listened to everything, and I took notes to practise telling a story, creating a narrative, chapters, characters... I listened to Riad Sattouf podcasts and read Marjane Satrapi, taking notes and sketching in my black Moleskine book. From there it grew to a larger sketchbook and a watercolour kit. As I travelled further, as the journey progressed, so did my drawings and ‘story’. I like to convey emotions through colour, but it's all improvised and drawn as the adventure unfolds. It all grew naturally as I went along, because I was on my own for a very long time, I had the head space to develop a narrative. I then created a character to develop a greater sense of distance, a heroine with blonde hair, a detail that allowed me to tell an intimate, autobiographical story. To tell a sincere story. I take inspiration from a lot of American graphic novels. But I don’t follow any particular codes or standards. It’s an autobiographical story but punctuated with free-form parts that are sometimes more contemplative. A year of drawing, reworking illustrations and dialogue let my style mature and confidence in my work grow. It was with my mind hooked on the pedals that I envisaged drawing comics. I didn't force myself, I just enjoyed the ride. I was happy. READ MORE Ride & Create | Laurianne Melierre On her bright orange Brompton, Laurianne Melierre skilfully navigates the beautiful neighbourhoods of Paris with equal parts curiosity and power. Ride & Create : Andrea Sarri Italian Michelin Starred Chef Sarri annually records more than 25,000 km on the clock.Andrea should have become a professional cyclist, but life decided otherwise. Bike-Packing Conférence - Riding Above and Beyond. French bike-explorer Axel Carion wheeled into town last Thursday night to discuss his feats of ultra-distance cycling across the globe. Axel’s stories of adventure also included advice on kit and equipment choices, plus the all-important bike preparation. NEW BIKE-PACKING COLLECTION 2023 Somewhere between a smouldering campfire and rolling along the banks of a tree-lined river, bike-packing is an experience of pure freedom.