“When I arrived, I realized that I could no longer have it near me every day”: he goes around the world with his bicycle son and the train

“I had the chance to live with my son a unique experience. For example, to share with him seven whole months, says Thierry Corbarieu, 56 years old. Nevertheless, When I arrived. Therefore, I realized that I could no longer have it near me every day, and that’s what troubled me the most.”

For seven months. Therefore, six days, more precisely, the ultra-trailer installed in “when i arrived, i realized the Vicdessos valley, Ariège, and his son Yan, 20, got to know each other over the 25,000 km traveled together for this journey which they chose to name “World Tour with Dad”. On November 8. 2024, from the Place du Capitole in Toulouse, the father and the son took up an extraordinary challenge: browsing the planet by bicycle and the train.

After crossing the Atlantic from the Canaries to Guadeloupe, they joined New York, then traveled the United States. Then they pedalled through Mongolia, China and Kazakhstan before returning to France via East Europe: Bulgaria, Serbia, Croatia, then Italy.

On the last test – six days of walking for 215 kilometers – along the Canal du Midi. the father cannot help turning to make sure that his son is there, among admirers, schoolchildren, friends who came to support them. One last time, he looks at the one with whom he shared this exceptional adventure, before finding the ‘classic’ life.

&quot. when i arrived, “when i arrived, i realized i realized

“Yan had an accident on the second day after taking a car from the front”

Long distance – 1st racing specialist on the 1 000 in Mauritania (1,000 km) in 2019, then winner of theIditarod 1 000 (1,650 km) in Alaska in 2023 – Thierry Corbarieu had matured this world tour project for several years: solo, at its own pace, without the pressure of the bib. “After 20 years of races everywhere. I told myself that I would like to live this experience as long as I still have potato,” said the one who, at first, refused that Yan, his youngest son, accompanies him.

And yet, together, they motivated themselves, relentlessly taking turns on their small boat to browse the 5,000 km that separates the Canaries from Guadeloupe. Although they have planned food for 80 days, the duo loops the crossing in just 50 days. On Earth too. they surpass themselves: “We had to do 130 km per day, in the end we made 150 on average, which allowed us to arrive three weeks in advance.”

This did not. however, spared them with a few galleys, especially in the United States, where, at the beginning of the year, they had to face a second exceptional cold of cold, descended to Texas. Icy snow, wind, rain … not to mention the punctured tires, the border setbacks or the chasing by a bunch of dogs.

A challenge led for the association “Ko la Muco”

“when i arrived, i realized

But they have never considered lifting their foot. making a point of honor to go to the end for the KO La Muco association, which works to improve the daily life of people with cystic fibrosis, and of which Thierry Corbarieu is the godfather. In total, this crossing allowed them to collect more than 6,000 euros in donations.

Also carried by the benevolence of the inhabitants of the 14 countries crossed. “I was even embarrassed, remembers Thierry. We were paid for restaurants, we were made to eat …” In Mongolia. for example, they were welcomed in a yurt by a woman who, at dawn, dressed in her traditional habit, blessed their bikes before their departure.

So many meetings that will feed the 52 -minute documentary devoted to this adventure. the release of which is scheduled for the end of the summer. In parallel, the fifties wrote a book on this Odyssey, one of the greatest challenges of his traileur career. “Sharing it with my “when i arrived, i realized son was also this weight of responsibility that I do not wear when I am alone.” But not to make jealous. the sportsman already plans adventures with his two other sons: a 700 km route on the Yukon river, between Whitehorse and Dawson, then a 1,400 km race in Alaska.