400 days of cycling and recycling

by Sara Chiarotto O’Brien

on September 13, 2022

Photo Credit Larry Lessard / Bike62 Project

On July 1, 62-year-old McGill mechanical engineering professor Larry Lessard set out on the journey of a lifetime. An avid cyclist and expert on recycling, Lessard plans to travel across three continents, 28 countries, and 20,000 kilometres in 400 days. Along the way, he’ll stop at universities and wind farms to share his research into recycling and push for a faster transition to a circular economy.
On the evening of his interview with The McGill Tribune, Lessard had just finished a 125-kilometre leg of the trip from Magdeburg to Liepzig, Germany. Nearing retirement and dealing with the early stages of arthritis, there was no time left to waste.

“I’ve been wanting to do this all my life,” Lessard said.“I had a career and all kinds of things that got in the way. And now I have a chance to do it.”

 Lessard’s route started in Paris and will conclude in Montreal. He will travel through most of Northern Europe and Scandinavia before moving south through Turkey, Georgia, Iran, and Azerbaijan. After a short stint flying through India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, where roads are less friendly for bikers, he will resume his journey in Thailand, covering much of South East Asia and Japan. Finally, he will return to Canada for his final journey from Vancouver to Montreal. 

The Bike62 Project, as he calls it, is more than just a thrill-seeking adventure. In addition to spreading his knowledge about recycling, he plans to visit wind farms and speak with clean energy leaders about the need to recycle wind turbine blades, which each contain about eight tons of fibreglass—a material with high potential for reuse in recycling.