Kingfisher, Cape Cod in Los Angeles

Bernard Chambaz is cycling. Proud of its beautiful bike carbon Cyfac on which he requested be included in Kingfisher mint green italics on the carbon frame. Its pedals are in aluminum, covered her riding a white handlebar tape. You have to go in Acknowlegdments of his book to complete the list by Zipp wheels and saddle Fi'zi: k, and refer to Top Bike magazine (No 173, 174, 175 in 2011 and 203 in 2014) for the rest.

So it falls to an operation (removal of the spleen), Bernard Chambaz through in one go, at a rate of hell and from east to west, one of the least bicycle-friendly country in the world. Nothing stops in the stunning landscapes of the United States, nor wind, nor relief, nor dogs (p. 150) or punctures (p. 148) or the sheriff (p. 277) that the Prison threat on a deserted road if he refuses to move to the right of the white line on the side, strewn with glass and sharp stones.

As Chambaz is Professor of History at the Louis-le-Grand high school, he did not rest his nose to the grindstone. His conquest of the West is populated with historical figures, falsely eclectic gallery of portraits, whose story reveals progressively intimate reason. He knows his America for having traveled with the family. In the crossing, he also crosses its history and the strangest habits, like baseball, finally explained to zero we are (p. 195.)

The patch-work he composes is full of surprises, beauty and sadness. For this headlong rush is a journey into the past. One before the accident of his son Martin, who haunts his story like a familiar ghost, he always found, hidden in the design of the landscape, sometimes as a bird, for example the sparkling martin fisherman, aptly named, which opens its text.

Bernard Chambaz observed (p. 34) that the child who lost his parents has the orphan name, but there is no word for the father or the mother who lost her child. Since there is no word, he will do a book that recounts his extraordinary works to find the one he has not left. The idea of ​​Martin becomes the yardstick of his looks, his thoughts, his efforts. And Martin is everywhere. In the historical figures that emerge at the discretion of its course: Th. Roosevelt, Lindberg have lost a child. Martin Luther King was born on January 15, as the Martin. The entire country, its history, Travellers meetings have decided to give him signs that he is on the right road, since his son there and accompanies every moment arises.

This grieving is therefore in joy: "jattirerais willingly attention to the implied share of cycling in expressions radiate joy and be overjoyed," says the author. Poetry, irrational, remember the pain, the happiness of its evocation, is admirably consistent with the intellectual and athletic feat of resurrecting the beloved in an extraordinary road movie of paternal love. Anne, his wife, the mother of Martin, following in his Cadillac with red leather seats. It is there that ensures all, as her guardian angel.

Take the wheel of Bernard Chambaz and do not let go!