Recumbent activities in France in 2020

by Marc Lesourd of Association Française de vélo couché, photos Nicolas Ebner,

Stephane Smets,

Gilles Mondet, Philippe Lasnier

Nandax

Lyon

Nandax 2019

„e AFV (Association Française de vélo couché) organised the WHPVA world championships in Nandax in the central region of France. Building on the great experience of the organisation of the event in 2014 in Saône, the AFV core members wanted to even improve on the quality of the event both on the roads but also around the competition.

For that purpose, we established a close relationship with the local authorities, in particular the mayor of Nandax. e price to pay was to spend much time at the local bistrot! e involvement of the local people was tremendous. is allowed us to propose a very good mix of social interactions and races including sprints, uphill and criterium on privatised roads. is approach, developed as early as 2006 in Allegre, gives a more open competition where fully faired and unfaired vehicles all stand a chance to win the overall title. In addition, a week of touring was organised straddling the weekend to discover the nice roads of this region.

Velorizon During the whole year informal bike tours are organised by AFV members (with support of AFV) all over France. ese generally take place during long weekend or a full week. Accommodation is most often in camp grounds. ere is even a couple of nomadic tour with di–erent stopovers every night. e distance covered depends on the relief but are most commonly less than 100km. For registration it’s simple: look at the calendar and register on the French forum.

French championships In collaboration with the UFOLEP (Federation aiming at developing sports in France) we have o¨cial French championships titles attributed in time-trial and road race. In fact, there are several ‘championships’ in the trike, 2 wheels semi-faired and unfaired and velomobile categories, provided there are at least 8 participants in that category. is year the events took place in Trept, near Lyon. Here’s a link to the video of the full road race: www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1137&v= v8mUj_n¾BI&feature=emb_logo

Paris–Brest–Paris Every 4 years many recumbent bikes participate to this mythical event. Hajo Ekstein with his DF was the fastest. I guess he didn’t have time to enjoy a break at the AFV tent that some volunteer’s set-up exclusively for laidback pilots.

Viperine Originally this ‘race’ was a pure hill climb (1000 m D+, 16 km). is event is now a bike rally with timed sections and relaxed stretches in the hills near Grenoble. In 2020, why not come and play with us!

Duo Normand is gentleman time trial (teams of 2) takes place in Normandy every year and is an o¨cial UCI event where recumbents bike and trikes and velomobiles are welcome. So far the pros have always been faster on the demanding 50km course. A challenge for a strong velomobile team for 2020? <

Paris–Brest–Paris.

e world championship 2019 in Nandax.

Velorizon.