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Hubert… on the caption of the photo illustrating this article you wrote:”To do before dying : sleep on Lake Baikal: check”.
Hubert…. I didn’t know you. The first time I heard about you was 7 years ago in a documentary directed by another biker:”Yamana, return to Patagonia” by Fabrice Marquat. You had appeared to me as a colourful character, an unsuitable one perhaps would say some, but a charming, authentic and humorous character.
You’ve been on the road with your sidecar for over 10 years.
You defined yourself as a “Sidecarist, adventurous, entrepreneur, image taker and food lover”.
Your motto ? “Don’t forget to take a risk today.”
How did it start? The best thing to do is to leave you the word. You explain it better than anyone :
In November 2004, while living in New York, I had dinner with my good friend Jean-Louis at l’Orange Bleu in Manhattan.
While eating a cucumber salad, Jean-Louis was telling me “When we live in a big city like New York, on december 31 our pockets are empty because for ordinary people like us, it’s a lifestyle and we spend it all !”
Then we ate a couscous and Jean-Louis asked me a question I had never thought about “Now that your younger daughter Jessica is finishing her college, what are you going to do ?”. As we were talking we established that if I was to sell everything I had, I had enough money to travel on my sidecar for ten years.
By the time we ate a creme brulée, it was clear to me that I had 2 choices
1 – I keep working for the next 10 years and I will be poor after that !
2 – I sell everything I have, I go travel for 10 years on my sidecar and I will be poor after that !
It did not took long, with common sense, I took my decision while drinking my coffee.
Three months later, on February 16, 2005 at 6:04 am, New York was closed, I was on my way to the Arctic Circle on the first leg of my “Ten Years on the Road”.
You were born in 1946. You died in 2018. Condolences to your family.
RIP Hubert. I wish I’d known you.
He had a website that I strongly advise you to visit.
If you want to help with his funeral, it’s here.
1 Comment
Thank you so much for keeping his memory alive: “Colorful, unsuitable, charming, authentic, humorous.” Yes to all that and so much more. I’m sorry you never met. He would have liked to know you.