"True bike tourism is a silent mass that uses the bicycle to explore the world".
With his lemon emoji newsletter, Concentré Vélo🍋, Léry Jicquel is a hit. In this meeting place for bike fans, he talks about everything that has to do with the bicycle: from colourful anecdotes to economic news, from crazy testimonials to innovations on the other side of the planet, from magical adventures to gender and inequality issues linked to the cycle. It's up to him to tell his story!
In New York, where he lives, with his trusty steed _
Hello Léry! Could you please tell us a little about yourself?
My name is Léry Jicquel, and I'm originally from Lyon, but I've been living in New York for the past two years, after 6 years in Paris. I'm an everyday cyclist and cyclotourist, but I also play pickleball, run and swim. I create bike-related media such as Vélook, Le Concentré vélo and Le Podcast Vélo in parallel with my job as Product Manager in Brooklyn. My job is to create teams that work together to create products that try to solve the problems people encounter on a daily basis.
"I love exploring new digital tools".
How was Concentré Vélo born?
From my used bike advice blog, Vélook, first of all. At the time, I was looking to create my own website. I used the knowledge I'd acquired as a student, scavenging for second-hand bikes, to pay for my vacations.
But, during the Covid, the Actu Vélo site unfortunately crashed on the OVH servers, and was never reactivated. As I'm a bit of a "tool guy" who loves exploring new digital tools, this titillated me. As I consumed a lot of cycling news, I wrote a very simple newsletter with an automated editing tool.
Little by little, my **reader community grew **and I was spotted by a media incubator, which helped me a lot to develop my newsletter Le Concentré Vélo.
Today, I continue to** experiment with new media**, always focused on the *needs ofreaders*, because that's my DNA. Like a bicycle craftsman testing a new frame, new wheels... It's my sandbox! And it's free for my readers, so I really don't feel like I'm bothering anyone :-)
"The electric bike has enabled couples to get together for vacations and weekends".
The velotaf is starting to take root in people's minds. What's the current state of bike tourism?
Bicycle touring is evolving more and more, that's for sure. For a long time, I used to see **papis on their **racing bikes taking to the cycle paths. And for the last three years, I've been seeing these same gentlemen with their wives on electric bikes! Electric bikes have made it possible for couples to get together for vacations and weekends.
Southern Burgundy by bike!
"True bike tourism, for me, is a silent mass that just uses the bike to explore the world".
Do you think bike touring brings us together?
Actually, no, I don't think so. As much as bicycle touring is about adventurers on bikes, it's also about a niche. They make videos, take part in the Vincennes bike travel festival and have their own magazine.
And then there are the rest of the real bike tourists, a silent mass who don't try to tell their story, but use this tool to explore. For me, this is a couple on a city-break in Barcelona, who prefer to borrow self-service bikes to visit the city. They're neither militants nor activists.
Do you practice bicycle tourism?
Yes, I've been traveling by bike for a few years now, with my wife or friends. We often rent touring bikes from Lyon, where we take the first TER train out of town as quickly as possible. That's how I covered the Via-Rhona in three days or did a loop in southern Burgundy, which was sublime. In general, we don't do more than 50 km a day, otherwise it's a race to find somewhere to eat, and we're exhausted... I'm not looking for performance!
The via rhona by bike!
"When you go out with friends, you get that soccer atmosphere that I love.
What's your best memory?
One of my best memories is a trip with friends who aren't into cycling at all, and don't even ride velotafs! Of the 5 of them, three are over 1m90 tall. They have more of anintensity culture, having ridden mountain bikes with their dad when they were kids. Together, we did the ViaRhona and we did anything! 80 km on the first day... But when we got up in the morning, we looked at each other and said: "My butt hurts! But we're going anyway! It was pure pleasure. It was just us, the river, a bit of rain, our parkas, and we were rocking! At times like that, I rediscover **the team-sports atmosphere that made us friends**: the culture of footballers and solidarity.
**Does traveling by bike contribute to sustainable tourism? **
Yes, completely. When I launched Concentré Vélo, it was a mass of information. Then, by creating categories to list the different themes, I analyzed which were the most widely read. Cycling is one of them. Although my readers aren't really bicycle tourists, they're fascinated by it, and I think we're touching on the "Ushuaïa effect". One day, in one of my articles, I wrote about a young woman who had cycled close to home for three days. She shared her journey. The title of her first post was "forget about me", and I think many of us dream of that sometimes!
"To develop bike tourism, we need to dust off the image of bike sales and rental companies".
What needs to be done today to develop bike tourism?
On the whole, Eurovélos are well equipped. You can sometimes get lost because of signage problems, but on the whole it works well. You can cover hundreds of kilometers without setting foot on the road, as we did this summer in Burgundy.
But to go from a TV report on these unusual families who travel by bike and pass for aliens to a norm, it will require the development of infrastructures, but also the sharing of stories and media coverage.
And not just young urbanites. I also think we need to dust off the bike industry, and show a different approach to the customer experience in bike stores and rental outlets.
I think we need to focus more on**travel advice**, less on technique, but also the introduction of *baggage* services and obviously improving the train-bike interface.
"In my dreams, the last carriage of every TGV is dedicated to bikes".
What do you think bike tourism will look like in the future?
In the medium term, there will be too many people. The Atlantic coast is going to be crazy. But if I'm in futuristic dream mode, the last carriage of every TGV is entirely dedicated to bikes. There's a default service when you select your hotel: "we'll move your bike within a 50 km radius.
What news interests you most and what makes you furious?
In my newsletter, I like to use a teasing and positive tone. For example, I once shared the story of a tiler who used a huge trailer on his bike to work, and for whom it felt good. He's a genius, considering the drudgery of his job!
What I hate is all the blah, blah, blah. Press releases from brands and local authorities. I worked in the public sector for a long time. **It's often a lot of "noise". **It really pisses me off, because everyone's taking part in this charade. I'll be happy to share the plans when they come into effect.
"My newsletter opened my eyes to issues in the bike industry that I was unaware of, including inclusion and equality."
Why are you so interested in the subject of inclusion and equality in cycling, and what do you think about it?
My newsletter opened my eyes to issues in the bike industry that I didn't know existed. In 2021, I organized a hackathon focused on cycling, where I met Christophe, the head of the Staarp association. This association organizes tandem bike outings for pairs of sighted and visually impaired people. Christophe told me about the difficulties involved in transporting a tandem bike by train or renting one in tourist areas. Since then, I have frequently been contacted by associations seeking to promote diversity and inclusion through cycling or in the cycling sector. I'm thinking in particular of Les Femmes à Vélo and Les Roues Libres.
How is bicycle touring evolving in the United States?
Cycle tourism in the United States is booming, stimulated by a growing awareness of the benefits of cycling for health and the environment, particularly in big cities.
America's vast landscapes, from its national parks to its major urban centers, offer a wide variety of itineraries. What's more, the improvement of cycling infrastructures and the multiplication of events dedicated to cycling are contributing to this positive trend.
In New York City, for example, you can visit the city by bike every year, because the municipality blocks the main arteries to cars to make them accessible only to bicycles.
THE CULTURE MINUTE by Léry Jicquel
Music for bike travel: Ain't No Mountain High Enough, Marvin Gaye.
A book to discover bike travel: These are books I like to read or reread during my bike trips: Amine Maalouf's historical novels such as Samarcande, Léon l'Africain...
