London - Paris unassisted

tronic

Hey guys

Long time lurker on here....I do a reasonable amount of road cycling, 10 miles each way commute on weekdays and I'm off out around Hertfordshire and Essex once every weekend doing up to 100 miles, or out on a sportive. I'm quite tempted to finish the summer by doing London - Paris over a long weekend, unassisted, with a small backpack, getting the Eurostar home. Anyone have any experience of this? Does anyone think it seems like a sensible idea? I'm looking for routes avoiding main roads, suggested night stops, etc etc...

Thanks for your help

Tronic

sjaszczak

Don't know if it sounds sensible...but the best ideas rarely are Sounds like fun though!

CheeseyJoe

For the route have a go using google maps.

2Fast4Love

Just recently did St.Malo to Paris, on my road bike with a (very) small bag on a seatpost rack. That was 400k, I had a 45k day (ferry got into France late afternoon), a 140k day, and then a 205k day, finishing with an easy 10-20k breeze into Paris.

The 205 day hurt me in ways I can't even begin to describe, but with 30k to go I felt awesome and bossed it to the hotel, keeping pace with a couple of guys that were out on a training ride later on, and sitting down for a quiet beer afterwards was as rewarding as the day had been punishing. I did start to question why on earth someone didn't just flatten the land before building on it, and exactly what the purpose of wind is, but hey - if it was easy, there wouldn't be much point doing it.

Getting a bike on the TGV is not an easy operation (partly because some people are just ignorant mother-fo's), and regardless of what the uber-helpful guy at the hotel said, you do need a bike bag. As for hotels & such, you'll be fine. All but the smallest villages will have a hotel or 2, as long as you're even halfway sensible about it (i.e. start thinking about tracking down a hotel at 7-8, not 10pm...) you'll be fine.

Finally, be prepared to see more churches than people.

chill123

i did london to paris in 24 hours last year. we were assisted but then there were 20 of us. as long as you take plenty f spare tubes i'd say going unassisted is fine!

we went london > newhaven > dieppe > paris.

look for the avenue verte out of paris. it is a disused railway that has been tarmaced over and has no cars on it.

Cycling Training

clockworkwar

Take spare spokes, spares of everything. Expect the worse.

Then plan, plan, plan and your off.