London to Paris........its now or never!

psychologist1

Hi.....i want to do a 'London 2 Paris' bike ride next year....I would like to go on a ride that is well organised, safe...is fun.....goes through brilliant country-side...over three/four days! Any ideas?

Q1...Have you been on a good one you can recommend or one to stay away from....Did you enjoy it..
Q2....I have done London 2 Brighton a couple of times, but recognise this is a bigger challenge and am looking forward to it....How do i train?

Advice Welcome!

the full nelson

I did london to paris this year with action medical research. was very well organised.

It finished the same weekend as the tdf so was good to see that,

as for training its as simple as getting your ass on the bike and pedalling.

tata

itsaghostcar

Did it this year with Discover Adventure. Great group of people and well organised. Route was signed all the way, all accommodation sorted and pretty much all meals (just the ferry dinner on the first day and your lunch on the free day in Paris to buy yourself).

There's a variety of charities that use them, or do the Open Challenge for yourself and/or your chosen charity. 80-90 riders on the June ride of varying ability.

http://www.discoveradventure.com


as the Full Nelson said - clock up the miles and you'll be fine.

Stwutter

2nd vote for Discover Adventure. Done the same ride in this year. Great experience and very well organised.

sarkmeister

Im doing the British Heart Foundation London to Paris on Saturday. Its 290 miles over 3 days. Ill report next Tuesday with some info.....

Felix-da-house-mouse

i'm doin it next week with discover adventure, seems well organised will let you know when i get back, email me in 2 weeks so i dont forget psycho, quig22@hotmail.co.uk

oldwelshman

Felix-da-house-mouse wrote:

i'm doin it next week with discover adventure, seems well organised will let you know when i get back, email me in 2 weeks so i dont forget psycho, quig22@hotmail.co.uk

Hi.
I just did this same trip.
If you have any cycling experiance you will do this easily.
The prganisers have this trip off to a tee!.
They cater for all levels and ensure regular stops for water and food and the food they provide is all correct for this type of route.
I was amazed with the variety of riders and I rode with some people who were very inexperienced.
One young lady had never ridden further than 25 miles, there was one guy who must have been 20 stone and a couple of amply proportioned ladies
I had no intention of riding it as a challenge as I did it for charity so for most of the trip I rode chatting with others.
Their motivation was great and they all completed the route and I had great fun riding with them and assisting a little on some climbs
When I wanted to do a bit of fast riding to maintain fitness for up and coming races I just made sure it was later in the ride and ensured it was when I was alone on road so as not to appear to take the pisssss with others.
You will thoroughly enjoy the experience and will find some of the others around you find the experience of riding through Paris and completing their personal challenge at the Eifel tower very emotional.
I am lookin at the possililty of doing another simialr event next year.
If you speak to the organisers they will more than probably remember me as I am a very introvert and shy person

dannygcp

The MIS Trust is organising a ride to Paris next July. http://www.mstrust.org.uk/fundraising/e ... oparis.jsp

It sounds well organised and is targetted at people of all abilities.

oldwelshman

dannygcp wrote:

The MIS Trust is organising a ride to Paris next July. http://www.mstrust.org.uk/fundraising/e ... oparis.jsp

It sounds well organised and is targetted at people of all abilities.

The itinary is identical to the one I did. Maybe it is with discovery also as the do them for lots of charities.

dannygcp

What was the French side of the ride like?

I am seriously considering doing signing up, but am slightly deterred by the thought that it might involve spending a lot of time cycling on long flat boring roads through northern France.

oldwelshman

dannygcp wrote:

What was the French side of the ride like?

I am seriously considering doing signing up, but am slightly deterred by the thought that it might involve spending a lot of time cycling on long flat boring roads through northern France.

Actually it was quite nice and surprised to find at least 2 or 3 decent climbs on the other side each day. Enough to make you get out of the saddle anyway
The fun part is through Paris !!! Worse than London!!!
We decided to put experienced guys in fron and back to keep group together through paris so we went about 6 mph This was ok so you can soak up th eatmosphere and also safer especially going round L'Arc

dannygcp

6mph I think I might fall over at that speed.

But I have always fancied cycling in Paris, and I am sure it is safer in a large group. I'm sure going round the Arc can't be much worse than Hyde Park Corner or Marble Arch which I used to regularly tackle in my youth when I live in London. Not sure I'd do it now though.

sarkmeister

Just got back from the BHF London to Paris...

Im pretty new to this cycling lark, only had a bike 6 months. I did a fair bit of training though. Overall was surprise dhow easy I found it. Obviously it was difficult on some of the hills, but was generally really enjoyable. Incredibly satisfying as well.

BHF organised it very well. The route was well planned, and the other riders were all very friendly. Id definitely recommend taking part in next years event.

As mentioned in a post above. The french part isnt all flat. We hit about 6/7 fairly big hills, and the rest is a mixture of rolling and flat. Also, most of it was on deserted roads.

psychologist1

this is great feedback ! i am now set on doing it and will be looking into the different organised-rides mentioned here

D

oldwelshman

I think discovery is one of the only ones you can pay to do the ride without raising money, about £450 I think.
Most of the organisers require a minimum sponsorship of £1250 or more, which includes the £450.
I did it for charity but here were a few doing it for a holiday

oldwelshman

dannygcp wrote:

6mph I think I might fall over at that speed.

But I have always fancied cycling in Paris, and I am sure it is safer in a large group. I'm sure going round the Arc can't be much worse than Hyde Park Corner or Marble Arch which I used to regularly tackle in my youth when I live in London. Not sure I'd do it now though.

It was the slowest I have ever ridden and I had trouble keeping that speed, I was in 39/19 climbing gear
It did the trick though as it kept all the less experienced riders together in large group and that way they enjoyed it with lots of people cheering them
Some of them were really cacking going round L' Arc which was absolutely nuts, and also Champs Elysee is nerve wracking for inexperienced riders.
But what a view cycling down there, then infront of the Lovre and onto the Tour Eifel.