Hélène Fauveau, co-founder of Paulette Bike: In love with the bike!

By bike, on foot, in a kayak... It doesn't matter what you ride, as long as the sensations are there. It's this "kiff" that Hélène Fauveau wants to share when she creates Paulette in 2019, her bike rental agency in Toulouse. We caught up with this lover of France, who intends to make bicycle tourism a new sustainable tourism trend, in every sense of the word!

Hello Hélène! Where does your love of cycling come from?

It was my love of outdoor sports that drew me to cycling. Ever since I was a little girl, I've loved the great outdoors and nature, combined with sport. As a child, I moved almost every two years. My father was always on the move, looking for new things in his job. So I changed friends often, but I had one point of reference: a chalet in the Pyrenees. It was a landmark that really anchored me. Even today, I need this total disconnection. I don't think about the day-to-day, I step back, I go beyond my limits... and I enjoy it (laughs)!

How was Paulette born?

Maybe it's my DNA, but... I always need to be on the move, in my professional and personal life, whether it's intellectual or physical dynamism. At the start of my career, I worked in Paris for several years in digital marketing, first on a permanent contract, then on a freelance basis. I was feeling a lack of physical movement and the idea of setting up a business was tickling me.

In 2018, I cycled the Canal du Midi, a wild and bucolic ride along the bumpy roads from Toulouse to Sète, with friends I'd converted to micro-adventure. We were all equipped, except for a girlfriend who wanted to rent a bike. You had to ask for quotes, send emails 3 weeks in advance, and the prices were mind-boggling - 150 euros for 3 days, I think. It was an obstacle course, whereas you can book a hotel in Bali in just 3 clicks.

This cycling trip was incredible. I kind of fell in love with cycling and it made me want to share this passion with even more people, even though I didn't technically know anything about it. When I got home, I talked about this budding project with my father, who is a car rental franchisee.

He urged me: "This is a project for you. I can help you, if you want". We gave ourselves 2 months to draw up our business plan and validate the project. And on April 20, 2019, we opened our first branch in Toulouse, using my father's car rental agencies as relays for bike departures and arrivals from Narbonne, Béziers and Sète. In the following years, we opened other branches to enrich our network and enable our customers to cover many other routes in France: Toulouse, Nantes, Bordeaux, Paris and in a few weeks' time... Lyon. In 2022, over 9,000 Paulette bikes were rented for day-long cycling adventures or longer stays!

"When you're on the road by bike, there's something terribly exciting about the unexpected.

Where does your desire to create micro-adventures come from?

It's the experience of freedom. When you spend 4 hours a day on a bike, you have a totally different relationship with time and travel. And there's the unexpected, which is terribly exciting. You know you're going to struggle, you know you're going to find your way through the fog, and that's exactly what you're looking for.

Above all, I really wanted to promote the French terroir, of which I'm an absolute fan, for its diversity, its landscapes, its cities, including the big forgotten ones, like Toulouse, certainly because it's poorly served by train, but also Narbonne and Béziers. When you walk through the villages around these places, you discover magnificent villages and incredible people. It was important for me to help people discover these hidden treasures.

What do you think bike touring enthusiasts are looking for?

To surpass themselves, to get away from it all, to do a bit of sport, to share and, above all, to have a different experience.

Can you share one of your most memorable moments with Paulette?

In the summer of 2020, two young people came to rent a tandem. They wanted to surprise their grandfather, a great cycling enthusiast who had lost his sight, for his 80th birthday. They wanted to get him back in the saddle and pedaling for just a day, to remind him of lost sensations. I found it really touching.

"More and more people are looking for a way to share and escape.

What's missing to make bicycle tourism explode in France?

We talk a lot about bicycles, but everything is often lumped together: urban cycling, the famous "velotaf", is something else. There are a lot of infrastructures and a lot of players in this sector, which is extremely dynamic. We're still in the infancy of bike tourism. I think we'll soon see a rebound effect of the velotaf explosion on tourism, as cycling becomes more and more integrated into our daily lives, including our vacations, thanks in particular to the growing desire for "slow travel" and micro-adventures. I also believe and hope that the French are increasingly willing to spend their money in France. But the major obstacle to the development of bike tourism today is the ability of all the players in the travel industry to work together: hoteliers, restaurants, train stations... Our customers aren't looking to "rent a bike", they're looking to "live an experience", and that includes everyone. Our sector still needs to be structured and modernized, to streamline logistics. Things are moving forward, and I think the Accueil vélo label is helping to professionalize the network. We feel that bicycle tourism is becoming a real economic issue.

Who inspires you on a daily basis?

People who decide not to follow a set route, but to create their own path.

This is the case, for example, of the "travelers" and "explorers" Alexandra David-Néel, Sylvain Tesson and Mathieu Tordeur. I admire their ability to give themselves the means to make adventure and exploration a profession in their own right.

To cite another example, I have great admiration for Clarisse Crémer, who left her job as a consultant to try her luck on the professional sailing circuit: quite a leap!

"We're still in the infancy of bicycle tourism".

Do we need to rethink our relationship with travel?

Yes, the definition of "travel" has long been associated with visiting a distant site. Today, I have the feeling that more and more of us are looking above all to experience something, to meet people, to be shaken up a little by an escape from our daily lives. You can get a kick out of seeing Angkor Wat in Cambodia, but you can also experience the same thing over a seafood platter, glass in hand, after a 100 km day, listening to the stories and anecdotes of a former sailor."

Do you think bike tourism can help change this vision of travel?

Yes, it's one of the ways of achieving this goal of "wonder". And I sincerely hope that our day-to-day work in this sector will make more and more people want to take this type of trip.

Music for curves: Space Oddity - David Bowie

Music for descents: Pili pili on a butter croissant - Gaël Faye

Music for climbing: Y tu te vas - La femme

A podcast for siestas: Le temps d'un bivouac, France Inter

A book for adventure: Premier de cordée, Roger Frison-Roche