Mice Goes to Paris for the 100th Tour de France

A brilliant trip. 150 miles in 12hrs 44 of cycling with a top speed of 31.5mph to see The Tour.  France has a special place in my heart and this is the third year running that I have done this ride although it was a weency bit different this time. The Tour de France 2013 was celebrating its 100th year and was doing something rather special.

It had created a one off ride for members of the publique - tickets obtained on a lottery basis - the route of which was around the last 10km of the official route just two hours before the real final.  Somehow a couple of us had been lucky and we had actually won tickets. What an event this would be?  A once in a lifetime. So much so that I ducked out of the actual Friday Night Ride to the Coast in order to preserve my sleep pattern by keeping my sleep deficit to a minimum.

I met up with a fellow cyclist at Victoria and we joined the ride in Newhaven.  Although 11 of us were going to Paris, 4 of us were staying 50 miles south of Dieppe following the Avenue Verte, to then join up with the peeps the next day. 

I had heard about Avenue Verte. It is in fact an old railway line that has been tarmacced over, is flat and has no motor vehicles. My understanding of the ride was that it was gonna be  pancake flat - a very gentle flat ride all the way to Saturday. Lovely Jubbly!! Oh how wrong could I be?

I didn't clock the ride from Brighton to Newhaven. My goodness that was a busy road and even worse it was hilly! No breakfast, no warm up ride and before I knew where I was two of us were haring along the coast road being overtaken by very fast traffic. Yuk! Luckily once in Newhaven things clicked back into the swing of a Friday Night Ride to the Coast.

 

The Fridays night riders were enjoying their well earned breakfasts and beersies outside a cafe in the sunshine. It had been fun.  I was a bit startled to see a few of the core Fridays peeps missing. 

 

We all made our way aboard the ferry, put our bikes with the cars and sat by the bar. 

 

Most of the night riders dozed off and along with the three of us who hadn't done the night ride chatted about just about everything! 

In Dieppe the main group headed off to a hotel 20 miles away. Two of us waited for our fellow foret peeps who with their Bromptons were foot passengers to join us. It took a bit longer for them to extract themselves from the bateau.

 

Whilst we were waiting a group of Moulton riders gathered next to us and fantastically recognised me having met them on the ferry two years earlier. They had spent a week travelling about Normandy in 2011 and the youngest - aged 13 had cycled 100 miles in a week. 

I wrote at the time and I write it again - impressive. That is a great achievement. She wasn't there this year but was still doing lots of cycling which is great to hear. We made our farewells and they all rode off into the distance.

The four of us headed for Avenue Verte via a Boulangerie to stock up on supplies. Then along the most loveliest route - alongside fields, cattle, farms, church spires and villages surrounded by rolling hills. Absolutely beautiful. 

Conversational pace, chit chatting, weaving our way south. We stopped in Neufchatel-en-Bray for early supper - omelettes and Croque Monsieur then carried on south. The two Bromptonites headed to their chateau and two of us headed to our hotel - 15 miles along a D road. 

D as in Roman, straight and rolling hills with fast traffic. It was a bit of a white knuckle ride - I dug deep and peddled like billio into a headwind. I had to stop a couple of times and apparently we were going quite fast. (Well for me at least)! At some point we were cycling 22 miles an hour up hills into the unrelenting headwind -  under the circumstances definitely fast. Once in Gournay-en-Bray the hotel proprietor was quite impressed to see us "Tiens, déjà?"she asked!!  Bikes in garage, straight into shower, an enormous pot of tea was delivered and consumed followed by zzzzzz. 

 

The next day two of us left at 7.30 to cycle to the breakfast rendezvous point 10 miles away. Again I was caught out by hills. About half a mile from the hotel - so no warm up - we reached a climb that apparently was the equivalent of cycling half a Ditchling Beacon! I have no idea how I reached the top of that!

We arrived at the Boulangerie where we were joined by our Bromptonites. We ate well and a while later the peloton arrived! They had breakfasted at 5.30 and had been cycling since six am - along The Man In Charge's favourite roads. It was more rolling than the Avenue Verte - I rode it last year and it is beautiful and it definitely didn't have the Ditching Beacon climb! The sun was up, we were fed and watered so off we went.

 

Weaving our way along beautiful countryside - fields of rhubarb ready for picking, hills and forests on the horizon, church spires marking the existence of villages. Down to a stream that weaved its way parallel with the road. French agriculture defines the countryside. Crops of corn, bales of hay rolled up like Dougal of The Magic Roundabout fame.  At Gisors we climbed a busy road, along the top and down the other side.

  

It was all rolling and lovely, trees escorting us along the road until I saw a wall of Tarmac the other side of a roundabout. Part of me recognised it from last time and the other part of me said well we are not going up that!! Needless to say we did. 

I kept in a low gear, spun away without looking at the steepness of it and thought of something completely different! Like how much I was looking forward to seeing the Tour de France tomorrow! Somehow this strategy worked (thank you Grace for teaching me that) and although one of our number who had raced up it and was sitting on a bench in the shade two thirds from the top I just thought there is no way I'm stopping til I'm at the top of this thing! 

A few pedal rotations later and I was at the top! Woohoo! I leant my bike against a tree and downed a litre of water - trying not to choke whilst my lungs were still gasping for air. From there we did at least have the benefit of a descent straight to lunch (ascending after lunch is awful). 

 

Further on, we found the stroppiest conglomerate of businesses I've ever come across (although the epicerie peeps were fab with their delicious pots of carrotes rappe). The Boulangere was hilarious - every time someone asked for a specific sandwich (eg fromage et Jambon, she said "non, ce n'est pas possible" so a different sandwich was requested and prepared. Then the person behind would place the order for the first one (fromage et jambon) and it was duly produced! Completely bizarre!! A picnic in the street followed by a visit to a bar with equally scary service, then back onto our bikes!

Apparently we were doing well in terms of time so after another lovely 20 miles we found a bar whose proprietaires were more than happy to have our bicycles in the garden. We sat under a vine, enjoying the shade, beersies and funnily enough quite a lot of water. The only shock was that there was no ladies loo - just gents. I inquired, but "c'est mixte" the proprieter told me. In I went only to discover footprints. Footprints?? I haven't seen those since Turkey in 1988 - do they still exist?

We sat and took in the achievements of the day - magical miles across French countryside. We were now nearing the city border, the roads I have taken into Paris on the last two trips have been daunting to say the least. Group riding along a triple carriageway with cars moving at 40mph either side is not fun. Last year some of the peeps said they would rather we didn't do that again.

The Man in Charge must have seen this as a bit of a gauntlet as he found us the most fantastic route in to Paris Centrale. Brilliant! We were predominantly following The Seine from the north. What a result. I can't begin to imagine the amount of time it must have taken to go through the roads on Google Maps, checking, checking, checking what it would be like. The attention to detail put into making these rides what they are defies belief. 

 

As we neared the city centre we all dispersed to our various hotels and regrouped three hours later for a delicious dinner. The service was a bit shot to pieces but I'm not sure the maitre'd could have worked any faster. There was no aircon so we popped outside to people watch and to cool down.

The canal was bordered by people just sitting, laughing and enjoying the evening. Our puddings arrived at 11pm and once eaten we scattered again to our different locations.

Tomorrow is the big day!!

A gentle start with a late breakfast. Baguettes and pain au chocolat from a boulangerie transported to a slightly dodgy bar for a rather revolting cafe au lait! A plan was plotted. First a bit of sightseeing, then registration for the 2013 Randonnee, a bite to eat, a bit more sightseeing and then off to watch the fin du Tour du France! Quel Plan! I had to keep pinching myself that this was happening!

We ambled towards Le Sacre Coeur and the road rose gently. Then a left turn and Mon Dieu - what a shock - I wanted to rename it Sacre Bleu!! If I thought yesterday's climb was bad enough - this wasn't a climb it was a ladder without the rungs. One way traffic, a bus coming towards me so I just dug in and heaved my way to the top. What a route!. Breakfast didn't know what to do with itself! 

And the streets were full full full of tourists. By the time I was able to speak again I was looking down across the whole of Paris. The whole of it (well the south side). Notre Dame, Le Tour Eifel at the end of my nose. No sooner had I got my breath back and it was taken away again.

Having taken in the view we headed south - down the hill!! That was fun! Then west to L'Arc de Triomphe to register for the ride. We met a father and daughter team who had travelled from Cheshire to do this. 

The daughter had a very nice fully carbon Willier which she had seen a picture of on Instagram. She liked the look of it so much she sent a message asking where she could find one. The reply came back "if you want it, you can have it". Hey presto it was hers. Not a usual nor a recommended way to buy a bicycle but it worked for her.

In the queue a guy on a mountain bike insisted on staying on his bike and clipped in - even after he had given the spokes on my front wheel a good kicking (accidentally obviously but even so). Despite the pinch point of the queue he stayed clipped in. I was just thinking to myself it would probably be better if he got off his bike when the guy next to me said "he probably doesn't know how to unclip" "hahahahahaha" I replied "he's probably been stuck to his bike since Tuesday!!" We both had a giggle at that.

Once checked in, we escaped over the barriers and continued our sightseeing activities. This time heading south west to the most perfect view of Le Tour Eiffel,  a true marvel. I stood and gawped at it for a bit then we headed back to the Randonnee. 

Rather than climb back over the railings, we waited by a barrier until it had started and joined it then - having checked with a race official it was ok. It seemed it was only nearly ok as he did use the word cheating!!! And we were off! 

Pedalling around the Arc de Triomphe  - the tomb of the Unknown Soldier - down the Champs Elysées and its cobbles, past Le Louvre and left at Place de la Concorde and into a tunnel and along a straight - AKA rue de Rivoli - before heading up the Champs Elysées again. It was incredible! 

A really mixed collection of bikes and peeps from all over the world. I stopped a couple of times to take a pic as this was never likely to happen again.  What a tremendous experience. 

Once back at the start we headed to the hotel. On the way we past a Team Sky Collective who were all in a restaurant having just cycled from Ypres in Picardy. We joined them for a drink and met their bike mechanics who are from Halfords. the two chaps in charge were fantastic! 

We had a great chat about Boardman (the bicycles and the man himself), cycling in Rutland, mountain biking, all sorts of stuff. I showed them a chip on the rear stay and they said "if you wait five minutes the team mechanics will be here and I'll ask them to have a look". True to his word, my bike was looked at - it really is only the paintwork and no damage to the carbon frame. What a relief and how fantastically kind of Halfords.

We headed back to the hotel to change and plot a plan for dinner. A pizza restaurant hit the spot serving salads and chips then off to the Metro. In case there is any confusion the Metro is what the French call the tube. 

I haven't used the tube for 18 years. But here I was on the Metro. I like the aircon, efficiency, open carriages and lack of sardines. It also didn't seem too deep underground. 

Once at Le Louvre we wiggled about finding a spot where we could see and hear the tv coverage but also see them actually go by. And we did. And they did. I don't think I've ever been so excited to see a yellow Mavic estate car. It signaled the front of the race. The speed at which the cyclists flew by was amazing. 

The crowds were fantastic - relaxed but enthusiastic and cheering for their favourite. Vantage points were found all over the place and little did I know at the time but some had a real birdseye view! 

The peeps at the barrier moved out and the guy in front of me asked several of us if we would like to be at the front. We all politely declined and eventually he said to me - but I am taller than you and you will have such a great view. So I took up the offer and found myself by the barrier. It was fantastic! My eyes, never mind my camera couldn't keep up as The Tour whizzed up the otherside of the champs élysées. Then down towards me. Woweeeeeeeeee! 

The force of air they generated was quite spectacular. My heart missed a beat. Then the support vehicles, the gendarmes and a car carrier rescue vehicle. On the monitor I watched the peloton all swoop into the tunnel - the very one I had been in some four hours earlier. I couldn't believe I was right there, amongst it all. What an incredible thing.

 

Team Sky did there stuff and although Argos won the stage the cheers across the Champs Élysées for all the winners was fantastic. Eddie Merxc was there, as a Guest of Honour and although we were behind the stage we could see Chris Froome being presented with his trophy. What an awesome way to pick up the space vacated by Bradley Wiggins. And what an absolute privilege to have been able to spectate this event first hand.

The Metro ride back to the hotel was like leaving a very good party - which is exactly what it had been.

Leaving Paris the next day produced a visitation but we still managed to catch the train to Dieppe where the day was spent doing something completely unexpected. A day at the seaside - on the beach! Swimming, sunbathing, eating, sunbathing and more swimming. The whole weekend had now escalated into a real summer holiday and felt like a week long rather than a long weekend.

 

At the ferry we caught up with our Fridays friends who had cycled back from outside Paris along rivers via Rouen all the way to the sea giving them 300 miles of cycling since Thursday. Wowser!  

It was also fantastic to see the number of cyclists on board and the way that DFDS has been so accommodating. A bonus on board was to hook up with the Moultonites again this time with enough seconds to swap contact details. 

Who knew that riding a bicycle would include meeting so many fantastic people?

As ever in the company of The Fridays, the conversation was hilarious - discussing a zillion different things, laughing all the way to the coast.

Disembarking at Newhaven could be improved upon a bit. If there was a way for cyclists to leave before the engines start - as indeed we did on arrival at Dieppe - that would be great (please)! We reached the station platform and were soon on our way home. 

I know I say this a lot - but that is because it is true as not only is it totally unfaltering in its organisation but these rides are just the best thing ever. I continue to have not one clue as to where I'm going for the simple reason that if it's a Fridays ride I just don't need to know. 

The routes are breathtaking, the peeps fabulously kind and selfless - everyone doing their utmost to make the time as easy and fun as possible. Mechanicals are solved with such panache and wizardry - if the solution can't be found there is always a plan b to keep everyone on the ride until a mini detour to a bike shop to resolve the issue. No angst or stress or inference of inconvenience - the focus is always about the fun and the ride. 

Truly awesome Your DZships - my lucky red star continues to glow in admiration and enormous gratitude to you both.  The rest of the pics are here