Photojournalists/Adventurers
Janick Lemieux and Pierre Bouchard usually describe themselves as a team of “photojournalists/adventurers on wheels”…but you can also read “international bike bums” in between the lines! On a quest for the people and landscapes of our planet for more than a decade, the pair has pedalled and endured adventures in some 50 countries in a 110,000+ kilometer long ongoing cycling odyssey.
Janick is originally and “mainly” from St-Hyacinthe, in the fertile St-Lawrence valley… her family moved a lot! After taking a Business Management course at St- Hyacinthe CEGEP, she set off for the Canadian Rockies and mountains of British Columbia in order to learn English. She called Banff and Whistler home and headquarters from which she launched herself to Western Europe, Australia and New Zealand. Janick met Pierre for the first time in Whistler during the spring of 1992. He was in transit between Hawaii and Alaska, and was teamed up with fellow Quebec City, long haul, all-terrain rider, Steve Bellemare. The two troubadours on wheels were nicknamed the “Velcro Bros”, for sticking together and for their adhesive properties with people they met along the way! It wouldn’t be until the summer of 1996 that Janick and Pierre would decide to share their lives and… the Road together!
Pierre was born and raised in Québec City. On a summer vacation scheme away from his University Laval philosophy studies, he combined travelling and bicycling for the first time on a solo “descent” of the Atlantic Coast, from Québec to Florida. Back in “La Vieille Capitale”, amazed and pumped by his experience, he planned, along with his friend, Steve Bellemare, to ride around the world on mountain bikes. The following spring, in May 1990, the two were ready to embark on a 60-month, 60,000 kilometer long expedition! Pierre and Steve, the “Velcro Bros.”, continued to explore the planet on bicycles together for the next five years. When that saga finally ended and the two separated, Pierre continued travelling solo in Asia, and in 1996 joined Janick in New Zealand where they conceived of a Siberia/India mountain bike trek, an epic crossing of Asia’s hinterland. It was during that Asian journey that they conceived of visiting the volcanoes of the Pacific, and their current Ring of Fire adventure was born…!
Pedal has been chronicalling and publishing their tales and adventures since the very first day in May 1990…