Yak News When a Yakman comes home, he can't sit on his bum for too long. So he just sits on a bike again instead.

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Although the Yak usually goes east, he's chosen a westerly course this time to cure his Bolivian nostalgia, and taste again the powerful mix of plain and altitude.

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My bicycle
has been my impression and expression means, it left no traces behind, except in peoples' hearts. I have lived through a global Kama-Sutra, and now I pick its pieces up to put them into words, and tuck them into Songwheels. Gauchos resist Phe patagonian wind, and they know no time has an end, and no rope breaks apart.

The journey out of its womb puts me in front of a feeling of cosmic loneliness. In its emotional traffic, just one gesture on the handlebar, and the world puts me down under. But the best that could happen to me happened. As the Moroccans say when they're in love: "I'm eating my rims!" So much so that I no longer worry myself sick. Yet the coming summer could decide otherwise.

Best friendly and cyclonautic regards."

Claude		 My bicycle has been my impression and expression means Well, at least, that's what the Yakman himself says about traveling on a bicycle. On several of them, actually, a firm statement that he strongly believes in reincarnation. His faith seems to extend that capacity to any inanimate object which has seen enough things in the world to gain a soul.

Many among his friends wondered how long the Yak would be able to stay in comfortable Switzerland. Alone among them, Claude answered in his manner, first with a short trip that led him to Ladakh last year, and now by flying again to Bolivia. A harsh country whose creator could not decide whether it would be made of mountains, plains or jungle, and finally mixed it all. None of that can keep the Yakman silent, though. Just read hist latest comparative studies of Bolivia and Switzerland...

That very culture and civilization shock could only suit our Yakman, who keeps on pedaling to find the Way. May none ever tell him the Earth is round.
After his cycle-circum-navigation of the world, Claude had to face a work that seemed even more demanding: writing the story of that journey. But you can now read the result in French (Le Chant des Roues, éditions Olizane) and German (Reise Know-How Verlag). The press also published countless articles about him when he returned home.

Also many suspect it, few can realize how deeply the virus of travel can be spread within the body, mind and soul of those who use the three of them to visit the Eearth. Since no vaccine is available, the Yakman has to resign himself to symptomatic treatment, by riding a bike regularly as far and as high as he can, in places such as Ladakh (India) or Bolivia. We'll give you updates as regularly as possible.		 The Yak turned toward Sajama and the salars of Copaisa and Uyuni The Yak is known to be a hard worker. At least he's got many witnesses who can say so after listening his story over the numerous slideshows he showed in Switzerland with Explora in 2002. Of course that's not enough to keep a Yak busy, but he managed to escape to India for the summer to keep the taste of the rims on his tongue.

It seems that the Ladakh venture was good for inspiration, since he threw himself back in the slideshow adventure until June, 2003. More work is already underway with Explora for next Autumn, and the TV documentary about the Yak is bound to be visible soon.

As for this site, it should also soon benefit from the new material Claude gathered throughout these micro-journeys. 		And since he's a brave boy, Claude was offered a new bike. Of course he couldn't help but turn it into a new reincarnation of the Yak. Although the Yakman knows his geography by heart, feet and tires, the Yak itself doesn't have such skills. We therefore suppose it is the Yak which took the Yakman away this time, in order to adapt itself to the Altiplano.

After climbing through the jungle and taking some rest in La Paz, the Yak turned toward Sajama and the salars (salt lakes) of Copaisa and Uyuni, then the city of Potosi. And since the Altiplano is not high enough for him, he will go and see if Mt Uturuncu (5,900 m) can be climbed with a bicycle.

Claude should be back in Geneva on 8 October.
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