Blog – Ecotopia Biketour

From Lyon to La Voulte with a visit to the gorges of the river Doux

Candid September 7, 2022 September 7, 2022

Leaving Lyon was more difficult as expected. One of our trailer attachments had broken in half, and a shop selling this piece was not in sight. So some of us went to the construction store in the early morning to find anything that could be useful as a temporary solution, and just when we had succeeded improvising a replacement part, we realised that an important part of the trailer had actually broken apart and needed to be fixed as well. Navigating out of a big city is always difficult, and the Via Rhona long-distance cycle route along the river Rhône…

some thoughts on the LGBTQIA+ & FLINTA start

Ecotopia Biketour September 2, 2022 September 16, 2022

This year, for the first time on the ecotopia biketour, part of the tour was LGBTQIA+ & FLINTA only (non-mixed, without hetero cis men). For the first 3 weeks of the tour, hetero cis men were not invited to join the tour. The other 9 weeks of the tour are open to all genders and sexual orientations, including hetero cis men. More about the reasons behind this decision are here, but a short summary goal of the would be: An attempt at a creation of a temporary space with less sexism/heterosexism/cissexism, with the hope that it would have a positive…

Self-organised refugee squat, smoothie bike and a huge collection of bike parts in Lyon

Ecotopia Biketour September 2, 2022 September 2, 2022

We arrived in the evening in Lyon at a squatted Villa in the Sans Souci quarter. There we were greeted by a few of the house’s residents, the majority of which come from Guinea. They have been living in the house for about 3 years. We set up our tents in the garden with the chickens and fell asleep to the noisy city sounds in the background. We woke up refreshed the next morning and had a circle (our word for a meeting) and discussed various topics, including alcohol consumption within the group, what we are doing in Lyon and…

I’m cycling in the rain, just cyclin’ in the rain What a glorious feeling, I’m happy again…

Ecotopia Biketour September 1, 2022 September 1, 2022

Well despite record temperatures through the regions we were cycling in this year, wildfire risks and general drought, there were still a few days where the skies opened up and blessed us with litres of water over us and our bikes.. I guess after 6 weeks of no rain most of us were not so prepared for rainy days Luckily there was someone from Britain – island of rain and changable weather – to coach us about cycling in the rain. Maybe it’s helpful for other people, meanwhile we didn’t see rain since a few days again.. Cycling and rain…

From Besançon to Lyon along the river Ain

Candid August 25, 2022 August 26, 2022

The group left Besançon with one day delay due to heavy rains. The route planning team decided to take a more hilly but also more picturesque detour towards Lyon along the River Ain, passing through its steep rocky valleys with its enchanted mossy forests, passing many waterfalls and lakes on the way. Close to Thoirette we took a rest day on a grass field down by the river. Not many people pass by there, so we could have a circle (meeting), a few swims, time to relax, some bike fixing, a visit to the “cow piss” waterfall close by and…

Spring Meeting 13–15 May 2022

Ecotopia Biketour May 3, 2022 May 5, 2022

Our Spring Meeting will happen from Friday, 13 May until Sunday, 15 May in Leipzig, Germany. In this meeting we want to make some final decisions about the route, start preparing the transportation of our equipment to the starting point, establish the communication and registration of participants and create and spread promotion material. Anyone who is interested is welcome to join the meeting. The idea is to have discussions on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. It is possible to arrive on Thursday evening and leave on Monday morning. Sleeping places will be organized, it will probably be needed to bring a…

Winter Meeting 2022

Ecotopia Biketour February 9, 2022 February 9, 2022

Hello everyone! Our date and time for the winter meeting is finally fixed, hurrah! Everyone is welcome to come to Greene, a little south of Hannover, in Germany from the 17th Feb, Thursday, to the 21st Feb, Monday. The meeting will be in the Funkenhaus, a nice collective which often hosts seminars like this. The programm is not fixed yet, but some parts will be about which direction to go this Summer, feedback from last year, gender topics around the tour, free time to wonder around, etc. Your welcome anyway, but you are also welcome to send us a mail…

Rolling through Czech countryside

Ecotopia Biketour July 27, 2021 July 27, 2021

On our first cycling day we left Prague to go Northwest to a farm with alternative people called Mlyn, where we camped on a field full of edible plants equipped with a teepee! We finished our rocket stove with the material help from the place. We also went to a lake under the local castle ruin that turned out to be just a field of reed so instead of swimming we had a discussion about how to facilitate a biketour circle. On the second evening a person from the house took us to a village for a taste of local…