French century advice
Discussion
It looks like I've got nothing much on for the next couple of days so have decided to hop on a ferry later and do a spot of cycling in France. The (very flexible) destination is Paris, starting from Dieppe. Having previously only ever ridden a little over half a century in one go it seems like a tall order, but the boat gets in at ~4am so we should have up to 16 hours available.
Any tips on cycling in France, or prepping for a 115 mile jaunt would be appreciated.
So far we have one road bike, one MTB, both with bottles, panniers, lights, helmets, and his-vis. I have the bonus of proper shoes and shorts. Also spare chain, inner tubes, puncture kit, couple of tools. Not sure what we'll do for navigation yet, doubt a phone will last the day adequately. Plan is to come back the next day by train, full of du pain, du vin etc.
Any tips on cycling in France, or prepping for a 115 mile jaunt would be appreciated.
So far we have one road bike, one MTB, both with bottles, panniers, lights, helmets, and his-vis. I have the bonus of proper shoes and shorts. Also spare chain, inner tubes, puncture kit, couple of tools. Not sure what we'll do for navigation yet, doubt a phone will last the day adequately. Plan is to come back the next day by train, full of du pain, du vin etc.
Edited by TheInternet on Monday 20th August 09:50
personally i wouldnt go anywhere near Paris in summer on a bicycle, it will be busy and having seen how bad Parisien drivers are, you will have a torrid time.
I would just plot a circular route around the coast and into some countryside bacfk tothe ferry for the next day. the people will be friendly, the food and wine will be better and the traffic will be quieter.
bike wise, slicks amnd toe clips on the mtb will help, usual toolkit etc, find a cheap bivi bag at a camping shop and find a campsite en route. 100 miles is pretty easy if you have all day to do it and there are no time constraints. just stop when you need a break etc
have a "chapeu!"
I would just plot a circular route around the coast and into some countryside bacfk tothe ferry for the next day. the people will be friendly, the food and wine will be better and the traffic will be quieter.
bike wise, slicks amnd toe clips on the mtb will help, usual toolkit etc, find a cheap bivi bag at a camping shop and find a campsite en route. 100 miles is pretty easy if you have all day to do it and there are no time constraints. just stop when you need a break etc
have a "chapeu!"
Edited by anonymous-user on Monday 20th August 09:55
You'll need a bell. It's the law in France.
Recently rode to Paris and have to say the attitude of French drivers was great and the quality of roads was amazing compared to UK.
Having only approached Paris by train previously I was surprised how close we got to Paris before you're in the city. IIRC the last stage was 19km from the end and was very much still in the country.
I think I have the GPX route we took if you want to PM me an email address I'll see if I can dig it out.
ETA the route is from Calais, so not much use to you. Sorry
Recently rode to Paris and have to say the attitude of French drivers was great and the quality of roads was amazing compared to UK.
Having only approached Paris by train previously I was surprised how close we got to Paris before you're in the city. IIRC the last stage was 19km from the end and was very much still in the country.
I think I have the GPX route we took if you want to PM me an email address I'll see if I can dig it out.
ETA the route is from Calais, so not much use to you. Sorry
pablo said:
personally i wouldnt go anywhere near Paris in summer on a bicycle, it will be busy and having seen how bad Parisien drivers are, you will have a torrid time.
I was working on the understanding that Paris was actually quieter than usual. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-19207131. Also hoping to find a cycle-friendly route into the centre.pablo said:
have a "chapeu!"
Nothing achieved yet!TheInternet said:
pablo said:
personally i wouldnt go anywhere near Paris in summer on a bicycle, it will be busy and having seen how bad Parisien drivers are, you will have a torrid time.
I was working on the understanding that Paris was actually quieter than usual. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-19207131. Also hoping to find a cycle-friendly route into the centre.pablo said:
have a "chapeau!"
Nothing achieved yet!I've always used "chapeau" as a generic good luck/keep going/well done acknowledgement as it fits a rider before, during and after a ride... doesnt it sor tof just mean "hats off"?
pablo said:
fair enough, riding into Paris is something I would like to do but the thought of traffic puts me off!, I guess as tourists dont have cars it makes sense that the roads are quieter.
I've always used "chapeau" as a generic good luck/keep going/well done acknowledgement as it fits a rider before, during and after a ride... doesnt it sor tof just mean "hats off"?
Chapeau now earned, got on a ferry Monday evening, managed one hour of broken sleep on the crossing and set off for the 125 miles at about 04:30. Perfect weather, no problems whatsoever on the journey, but still have a couple of slightly numb fingers.I've always used "chapeau" as a generic good luck/keep going/well done acknowledgement as it fits a rider before, during and after a ride... doesnt it sor tof just mean "hats off"?
Paris was absolutely dead; the route we took was quiet at least. Compared to normal London traffic it was a doddle. Used this route into Paris, the rest was based on that but used more main roads.
Quite entertaining to do the 200km then try and race the locals around the Hippodrome de Longchamps circuit. Did more damage to myself in those three minutes than the rest of the ride put together.
dougc said:
The hill out of Dieppe harbour is a b
h...
What hill?!h...
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