Introducing myself - and London to Paris ride!

jdd308

Hi all,

My first post so be gentle!

8 mates and I are planning to cycle from London to Paris at the end of June this year. We did the coast to coast across the Pennines last year and raised £16k for the Air Ambulance, so are up for a challenge!

Before I do a thorough search on here, as I am sure it is a popular adventure, does anyone have any tips on the following:

Channel crossing - we are thinking Newhaven Dieppe then Eurostar return
Route through France - I found part of one on the route section on this site in to Paris from Vernon
Hills?
Weather?

We are all road bike riders, however cross bikes like the Genesis Vapour and Specialised Tricross are popular among us with road-ish tyres.

Thanks for any advice!

John

Crapaud

Hi, jdd308. Welcome to BR.

A quick search on Bikely suggests this 4 day route.

This one goes through Dieppe.

Click on the 'elevation profile' to see any hills.

I'm sure that there are other routes, but Bikely's loading at tectonic speed at the moment. :roll:

'Cross bikes are a good choice, IMO. Have them serviced a week or 2 before the off to avoid any major breakdowns. Take waterproofs just in case. Other than that it sounds like you're all experienced, so shouldn't have any probs.

That's an impressive amount that you raised for Air Ambulance. You doing this for charity then?

jdd308

Thank you for the welcome!

Those links are very useful too. The second one via Dieppe looks just the job, thank you.

A pre trip service is a good idea. Last year the bikes were fairly new so didn't need it really. We are hoping the waterproofs will be 'just in case' as last year on the C2C the second day turned in to winter. It was like cycling into a jetwash, and that was in June!

We are delighted to be able to say we broke the group ride record for the C2C. Here's a link, the total was more with tax relief and a few more bits n' bobs:

http://www.justgiving.com/jackwrightcoa ... llenge2008

and some pics

http://www.johndickins.co.uk/portfolio34296.html

This year it is a pleasure ride, and not for charity. Well, we had such a great time we wanted to do it again, without asking everyone for lots of money this time.

John