The crazy project of Achilles, 17 years old

“Can you hear me? I’m on a descent and it’s windy.” Without leaving his pedals, Achille picked up the phone to answer our questions. Having left Bordeaux (Gironde), the city where he finished high school, on September 4, the young man is in great shape to cover the 30,000 km, 26 countries and four continents that await him. His voice is assured, his words surprisingly mature. Two years of intense preparation were necessary to set up this project, which he is carrying out in particular for the benefit of the humanitarian association TimeToHelp France. It will be a question of giving visibility to the actions of the association, and of launching a kitty soon to finance a humanitarian project that it supports. “I worked like crazy, I will remember it in times of decline,” assures Achille. He thus follows in the footsteps of his role models: the adventurers Mike Horn, Rémi Camus, Matthieu Tordeur, whose books he devoured.

Discovering new lands is something Achille knows well. This son of an architect of buildings in France moved to Laos just two months after his birth, with his parents, his brother and his sister, then to Martinique and India, where his mother volunteers in a home run by the Sisters of Mother Teresa. “I have rubbed shoulders with many different social backgrounds. However, the encounters will be a real challenge, reaching out to others is my Achilles heel.”

Achille has had adventure in his blood since he was very young. But it was in 2018 that he discovered cycling, thanks to the “mountain bike pilgrimages” organized by his parish in Dordogne. “I come from a Christian family, even if I have moved away from the practice and the Church. I was a scout, it is a school of life that has left a big mark on me, where we learn to live together, surpass ourselves and be generous. Sometimes, in very difficult times, I think back to the prayers we said there.” On the day of his departure, a few pilgrims who happened to be there gave the young man a prayer to Notre-Dame de Rocamadour. His father also gave him a medal of Saint Christopher, patron saint of travelers, which he keeps protected in an inner tube.

Why embark on such an adventure? The young man hesitates. “I often answer by mentioning a sporting challenge, but sometimes I don’t know what to say. I also go looking for an answer to a question, but what question? Maybe that of my future direction, or my vision of the world, which will inevitably change.” Achille says he is very struck by the diversity of ambitions of the young people of his generation, from those who do not cultivate any to those who, on the contrary, aspire to a great career. “We all want to be happy. The main thing I wish for us is that we give ourselves the means to achieve our dreams.”

The young adventurer named his project “Kaïros”, a concept from Greek philosophy, which means “making the right choice, at the right time”. By semantic coincidence, it is also a term dear to Christian theology, which designates the time of God’s saving action.