Welcome to André Breton Cycling,
From my website, visitors can explore my complete, ten-year racing history (2013-2022) prior to my retirement in August 2022 following my 8th completion of the Leadville Trail 100 and many more details such as a list of friends and bike shops that provided valuable advice and sometimes financial support, through generous discounts, for my racing endeavors; a gallery of images capture highlights from my racing and touring experiences; the latest news from André Breton Cycling is available from my travelogues; a summary of my touring history from childhood to present; and much more including services that I began offering in February 2021: Lifestyle Coach; Adventure Guide; Mentor; and Consultant. Click here for more details ...
Public Support: Become a Patron on Patreon
To help support Europa 360 and all of my subsequent adventures including the creative components (writing, video, images) that make their way to Patreon and my other social media channels (Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube), I've established a Patreon account where anyone can easily make a one-off or recurring, monthly donation using my own tier-based options. Using Patreon's intuitive and secure payment options, individuals and businesses can, e.g., buy me a cup of coffee each month by choosing my Tier 1 option here on my Patreon profile.
Social Media Channels
A rich past and an accumulating here-and-now await anyone that hasn't visited me on my Instagram, Facebook, Patreon, and YouTube social media channels. Here you'll find, e.g., many maps, images, and video journal updates posted during my bicycle adventures.
Touring by Boot, Boat, Motorcycle, and Bicycle: a brief history
Depending on the threshold of how a person might define a "tour", by a minimum number of days, etc, one could make the argument that I began touring as a youngster, with or without shoes, and primarily in the forests and wetlands that were within walking or cycling distance from my childhood home in Franklin, Massachusetts. My childhood tours, expressed from as far back as I can recall, roughly age six years old until adolescents, may have been short but they were frequent and rich with the satisfaction a person feels when they've stepped outside of their comfort zone, towards a wanderlust, in my case, that seemed then and now to be my primary mover. Click here for many more details about my touring history ...
Travelogues
My travels by bicycle are each captured in detailed, often multi-chapter, travelogues replete with images and maps such as this one from my 2019, 4400 mile, 63-day adventure from Duncansby Head, Scotland to Istanbul, Turkey by bicycle. Each of these tours were motivated, assembled, and completed based, in part, on inspiration from my previous touring experiences by boot, boat, and motorcycle. The spirit of those earlier journeys, by alternative mediums, is in plain view, as a watermark, behind my most recent travel stories and experiences. And since those early days, I've added much more to my sources of inspiration including the adventures by bicycle and other means completed and written about by the late Dervla Murphy.
Europa 360: thoughts from the conclusion of my 2022 bicycle tour
Dates: 22 August to 19 November 2022
Days: 84 days on tour + 6 days in Barcelona
Distance: 6,449 miles (10,378 km)
Climbing: 195,347 feet (59,542 meters)
Days: 84 days on tour + 6 days in Barcelona
Distance: 6,449 miles (10,378 km)
Climbing: 195,347 feet (59,542 meters)
Day 86. 15 Nov 2022. Barcelona, Spain. Europa 360 began as a dream that I subsequently nurtured and refined for about five years before flying to Barcelona roughly three months ago, on 22 August to begin the tour. It was for sure an epic goal and my most ambitious bicycle tour to date, all of that is true. To keep moving each day, when not resting or on a boat, I did the work, overcoming physical and mental challenges as they arose.
Doing the work can be very difficult and it was on many days and far more parts of days on this 84-day bicycle journey, but those are the pathways to much, much more. When we challenge ourselves we find a deep well. The farther we go, the more we find. Treasures abound here. So much so that I've come to the conclusion that life, as we often say to refer to all that happens from birth to death, begins, in many ways, at the edge of our comfort zone.
There is much more to discover and celebrate, about you, beyond this line than inside it. I encourage you to go there, to the edge and beyond. Take small steps and if you are afraid then don't be concerned. When you feel afraid imagine a door that has opened, close by, offering a path to limitless opportunity. I encourage you to step inside, have a look around, smile and breathe deep, because this is part of your story, it's beautiful, and only you can make it real.
All you need to do is begin and you will have your dream.
Doing the work can be very difficult and it was on many days and far more parts of days on this 84-day bicycle journey, but those are the pathways to much, much more. When we challenge ourselves we find a deep well. The farther we go, the more we find. Treasures abound here. So much so that I've come to the conclusion that life, as we often say to refer to all that happens from birth to death, begins, in many ways, at the edge of our comfort zone.
There is much more to discover and celebrate, about you, beyond this line than inside it. I encourage you to go there, to the edge and beyond. Take small steps and if you are afraid then don't be concerned. When you feel afraid imagine a door that has opened, close by, offering a path to limitless opportunity. I encourage you to step inside, have a look around, smile and breathe deep, because this is part of your story, it's beautiful, and only you can make it real.
All you need to do is begin and you will have your dream.
Europa 360: YouTube Playlists
My entire video journal, 212 individual recordings captured in eighteen countries during Europa 360, my 84-day bicycle journey from Barcelona to Barcelona is now available as one playlist on my YouTube channel. A second Europa 360, YouTube playlist provides video footage from my GoPro Hero 9 camera. I collected over 1 TB of 4k GoPro video footage on this tour so there will be much more to come to the GoPro playlist.
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