Mini-tour to Paris and back please

((Sorry this is a bit of a personal diary/to-do list as well as a call for help, so lots of ranting))

My degree is over!

Graduation is in July, and it would be nice before graduation to do a quick trip to Paris and back.

It would be my first multi-day-long-distance ride, but I've comfortably done 70-90 mile days training.

Back at my family home I have a Gossamer tent and a bunch of stuff like snugpak jungle bag from the little bit of camping a few years ago, but I really really don't want to do a proper cycle-tour. Bad as it sounds, I would prefer to carry less and stay in a hostel for a couple nights. First decision is weighing up that additional kit (s/bag, mat, tent, bivvy, etc), and I think I would prefer an overused mattress and a shower with hot water.

The Cannondale Synapse Carbon 2010 is light but definitely not going to be useful, so steel is real, the Koga Miyata Runner survives the hard knocks of daily use, it may last out on the streets of Paris too. Also, it's a steel bike, I don't feel bad about attaching a larger saddlebag with some support.

The Koga is set up at 2x7 speed Shimano RX100/105, has Profile Century aero bars with a SwiftShift, so on long stretches I can vary between a lot of positions, so long as the weight on my back isn't too bad.

Ideal solution is that I don't carry much of anything. So limited days of travel/kit, and only a few days actually in Paris. I will hopefully be staying with friends so my bike is safe, and I will have access to a washing machine. I have done Interrail with a stupidly small backpack and limited clothing, so that's nothing new.

Kit choices, a not-too-large backpack, and a not-too-large saddle bag. I think if I measure correctly I could fit enough kit and clothes for a few days of cycling and actual normal clothes when hanging out. Aside from a compact camera I don't need any other 'stuff'. I don't want to change the dynamic at the front of the bike, so only lightweight additions such as some tubes or accessories I can tape under the tri bars.

In my mind although I am comfortable riding clipless, considering likely fatigue, I will probably stick to straps. Mostly in case I lose concentration, I'd like to avoid a fall at a junction or something. Also, one less pair of shoes to carry.

You guys have a thread about Restrap, and I'm wondering about my quality/cost options (of all brands) for a larger size saddle bag, or whether to dry-sack and strap something. If it's just clothing, with the bike spares on my back, then it should compress well and be a uniform shape once tied down.

So please help! Route/sleeping suggestions, kit and "don't forget" ideas, distance travelled in a day on a road bike, and so on please!

Graduation date is 17th July, so I would ideally be going this month as soon as possible*, so I'm back and recovered before that date. Provisionally, if I were returning before 10th July, I wouldn't want to be leaving later than 22nd June. Ideally I'm not away for more than 2 weeks in total, and wouldn't want to take more than 4 or 5 days to get there.

I'm looking at the options on http://london2paris.co.uk and would be quite okay with the shorter trip via Dieppe.

*I'm cycling all day every day, long hours doing all errands, and being a dick and sprinting, so as far as training is concerned, I feel as prepared as I'll ever be. However, I will plan a couple long rides between now and the leaving date to get my ass comfortable with the pain.

Oh also my wheels/rims are on their last few miles, I will probably have the 105 hubs rebuilt with Rigida DP18 rims before I go if I can afford it.

LIST:
(to be constantly updated)

Bike - Koga Miyata Runner
Swap chain
Check BB, cassette, chainrings, brake pads (replace if necessary before leaving)
Profile Century tri bars - check lightweight spares that can be attached without affecting steering. Fit second bottle cage
*Lights (trelock) & Rabbit-scarer/bell ( @LuigiDolomite )
TT bag for snacks/extras

Spares
Inner tubes x2?
Tyres (folding) x1?
Pump
Emergency puncture repair kits
Batteries gps/lights
Multi-tool, tyre levers
(what else?)

Nutrition
Hydration tabs
Bottle x2 + checking route for stops to refuel
Hydration/energy gels
Snacks
Protein bars post-ride
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/powerbar-ride-bar-box-of-18-x-55g-bars ?
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/maxinutrition-promax-lean-bar-12-x-60g/ ? (cheaper on amazon tho)

Planning
Meals, and where/how to eat during journey
Route, and emergency provisions

Clothing
Weather, and emergency
Warm clothes for early morning/late evening
Extra socks

Necessaries
Toiletries
Suncream
Chamois
First aid?
Chargers (phone, gps, camera) & power adapters
Travel towel

Gloves - mitts + liners for cold morning
Glasses - sunshine & morning/evening yellow lenses
Bibs, jerseys, socks - to/from
Nettar camera

Potential routes:

bikemap.net/en/route/1214927-­l_av_p/ ( @|³|MA3K )

Route we've done twice (you can shorten it by riding direct from Gisors to Cergy). Has a lot of smooth traffic-free sections.
http://www.bikemap.net/en/route/1214927-l_av_p/

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This would be a good training ride:
https://www.lfgss.com/events/578/

obviously lights ! if you ever take the newhaven overnight ferry, you'll arrive at 5 am in dieppe so will likely start cycling in the dark. bakeries won't be open yet...
a bell for obvious ( for the rabbits out at night on the cycleway outside dieppe ), cute but dangerous.

Rabbits! Had no idea

Looking at the trip via Dieppe, and considering the ferry costs trying to weigh up a daytime ferry or a nighttime one. I am guessing it will be roughly the same cost as a meagre hotel, and save me waking/daylight hours.

Hotel = £30, cabin on the ferry = £35. No problems with locking bike up, it's on a ferry.

If my legs can cope okay on the roadbike with the weight, I guess it's possible in 3 days (London-Brighton, sleeper ferry, Dieppe-?, hostel/hotel, ?-Paris) without too much pain. As much as I could push it an go all out in two days, I think I would lose a day in Paris just from recovery.

the ferry crossing lasts 4h30min roughly, so in my opinion, not worth paying for a cabin. you can get plenty of sleep/rest in the seats.

also you will find a great deal of people of all sorts doing the crossing by bike and it's just nice to hang out.

Instead of going to brighton, i would do london > newhaven via Ashdown forest and Lewes which i find a nice calmer route.

i think you plan is cool on the french side, re- Mack's route earlier. though if i were to do the return journey, i would do one of the legs in one go :https://www.strava.com/activities/196571748

the ferry crossing lasts 4h30min roughly, so in my opinion, not worth paying for a cabin. you can get plenty of sleep/rest in the seats.

You say that, then a bunch of fat bastards in motorbike leathers come in and don't stfu all night.

The cabins are great, you get proper lay-down sleep and there is a decent shower and place to safely leave your gear.

If you travel on the morning ferry this isn't such an issue.

I'm concerned about some sleep, I know I need it for concentration. The cabins are filling up so maybe ear defender plan B?

that all makes sense.
worst case carry a tent, bring some duct tape, and tape it on the deck !

I did London to Paris via Dieppe a few years ago key things I learnt:

• You need proper lights ie ones that you can see where you going rather than be seen. There are fast descents out of Dieppe which without lights are hairy!
  
• Don't fit new tyres (probably applies generally) the day before. I had the brake rubbing on the tyre, it blew meaning I managed to get 4 punctures before reaching Kingston.
  
• The cabin was well worth it.....can't put a price on a shower and a proper nights sleep.
  
• Boulangeries are working from around 3am even if the doors aren't open....we managed to get a coffee and a croissant even though it looked shut from the outside.
  
• Take one of those backup chargers for your phone. You're likely to get lost at some point and lost and no phone is a bad combination, I just about avoided this but was close and would get one of these if I was doing a similar trip.
  
  

@santino will join me, we have decided to do a 'quick' trip, going on the 25th and arriving back on the 28th, with all the riding compressed to 24 hours each way, so effectively a 48hr route + stopover in Paris (so 25/26 there, 28th back). Depending on how the journey feels I will then do it alone maybe later in July and stay for some days with my friends.

Going to be a lot of fun!!! Can't wait for that mate

The KTM saddle bag arrived. Quality seems totally okay for the €40 posted. It is huge, 18L, though I really only need 10L. Not happy with it dangling from the saddle, here it is pressed into the frame. I will also buy an extra wide velcro strip or two as additional straps to really hold it in place.

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coming to your senses ! : )
doing in under 24h is definitly enjoyable. plan some time in Dieppe on the way back to enjoy the brasseries... if it's sunny that is...

I've done a couple of fast and light tours recently. Staying in hostels or cheap hotels.

I carry my stuff split between a Carradice Barley saddlebag (about 8l capacity). The rest of the gear goes into a pair of 8l Alpkit drybags strapped to a rack. One either side.
It's a rock steady set up that is pretty light and adaptable.

Clothing-wise I wear shorts, socks, cycling shoes, baselayer, short sleeved jersey and have a gilet, arm and knee warmers for cooler conditions. My rain jacket is strapped onto the Barley.

Drybags carry: pair of converse trainers, two pairs of socks, spare shorts, baselayer and shirt, pair of pants, washkit, lightwieght merino jersey (from UniQlo) and lightweight camping trousers (the sort that convert into shorts).

That's it.

My routine was to arrive at the hostel, shower and wash my cycling gear in the shower every night, squeeze it dry in the towel before drying myself and then hang it up to dry overnight.

Change into regular clothes, go out for a meal.

Wear the clean (spare) kit for the next day.

I did this for a week long tour down to Bordeaux carrying about 5lb of kit.

It's nearly time! We set off in a few hours down to Newhaven. Fingers crossed.

Bike is ready to roll

rep for that touring setup

Have you got a link to the ktm bag?

http://www.mkvsport.eu/mkvsport/KTM-Saddle-Bag-Tour-XL-18L-d1023.htm?tab=description

But we have both used additional straps attached to secure better. I went for wide velcro straps, and @santino sewed webbing.

Last pic shows additional strap placement for getting it extra tight and solid on the bike. But it's got a bit extra inside in the first full setup photo, so top bulges out more.

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As @pdlouche said, great bag for the price (£30 delivered). But we both had to modify it as the standard version was all over the place. I spent 3 evening sewing webbing with loop and velcro to get a stable / easy to use bag. Weebing on the side plus on top the bag to bring it up again the bottle cage holder.
Cost of webbing + loop (would have preferred plastic but was in rush) + thread + velcro around £10 to add on top of the price of the bag.
Still much cheaper than equivalent i found and totally adapted to your setup.

Newhaven!

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Super fun. 24hr there, 24hr back. Thanks so much to @santino for getting me through it so fast and with so much patience! French summer sun is too hot for me, I much prefer the cycle at night now

yep this trip was super fun, @pdlouche no worries mate we made it in full in the end!!

So here is a quick summary with pictures if others are interested. The aim of the trip was to spend 24hrs in paris so both of use can see our respective friends. I made few trips to France and many long distance travelling with my trusty TK2 so used to it, it was a first for pdlouche.

Equipment was simple, the minimum to repair (inner tube, tyre, pump,...blabla) with the main part of the weight in a saddle bag. I never used saddle bag before but let me tell you...i will never leave without going forward. It move the weight from your shoulders down to the bike frame making rocking the bike so much easier. You avoid too much weight on your back which then breath better and you limit saddle related pain. I have a carbon seatpost and no problem at all.

So we left London around 4pm thursday from clapham common with a ferry to catch at newhaven at 11pm (meaning you have to be there at 9pm for safety). You clearly don't want to miss your ferry as the next one was 5 or 6hrs later.

So off we went with few stops along the way with a first real stop in the country side outside of london.

Another stop to refill water, spoke to a very nice cyclist who was having his beer after a ride around.

The sun started to come down, temperature was perfect.

I knew the dock was going to be helpless for food so we went to KFC when we arrived in Newhaven as posted by pdlouche. I knew that as I got caught in the past at Dover waiting on the dock with limited food supply.

Then we arrive at the dock, being asked to park our bikes on the side with many others cyclist crossing. Boarding and unboarding the ferry was really quick compare to Dover Calais where they make you wait for everyone to leave the ferry first. Watch out for the holes on the bridge, half your wheel can fit in them.

We were in good shape by then, temperature was great and we progressed very well.

Cabin in the ferry for a rest and shower was clearly a must for an overnight trip. You feel fresh even after only 3hrs sleep, I only used Dover Calais ferry in the past so never had the option before, it was great.

We arrived in dieppe at 5am PT, was fresh but perfectly fine. The sun was already out and after 10miles, it was looking like a great day ahead.

As a half French person, I couldn't wait for finding the first bakery open to take a well deserved breakfast.

Mmmh apricot flan

We were having breakfast in a nice old village

Then the sun started to really come out, I didn't mind too much being used to but my ginger boy companion started to find it tough, especially long up hill.

We started to stop more often as the heat was serious when we were getting closer to Paris. Paris is surrounded by cereal fields so no shed whatsoever, no wind either that day and the sun was hitting hard. We had to refill our water supply many many times to avoid dehydration.

Stop in a small village

But then we made it and arrived at my friend's place in Nanterre (close suburb of Paris) at around 5pm the Friday. A nice refreshing stop to get some food and liquid into our body.

We were staying in a flat at Puteaux, just next to La Defense

Each of us had a nice time with our respective friends, food was so good as usual. I ended up at Les Invalides walking around.

But every good thing have to end so it was time to leave Paris to get our ferry Sunday morning at 12am. As the way down to Paris was so slow, we decided to leave early to make sure we catch our ferry. I knew riding at night was going to be so much easier for pdlouche so we left Paris Saturday at 9:30pm.

On the way out of Paris, the view was stunning.

You can see La Defense on that one (equivalent to a smaller canary wharf)

Then come the night which was sooooo cold. We were hoping to get hills to warm up our body. I was having a wind-proof jacket but it wasn't enough. But no regret for not carrying warmer top, every gram extra have to be justified and we have just been unlucky with a cold night.

But then the sun came and the view was once again astonishing.

We were still freezing at that point but it was slowly warming up.

We made it to Dieppe much earlier than needed at 7am so a trip to the bakery before heading to the port.

We made it!!! Waiting for the ferry.

We didn't book a cabin on the way back as it was during the day. It was enough to sleep in the seating area, chairs were very comfortable. We arrived in Newhaven at 4:30pm LT Sunday to do the last leg of our trip.

We were having decent legs and been much faster, the temperature was fresh so perfect to ride. Some hills have been tough and even forced me to put a foot down twice for 50 yards as my 93'' gear was too high for the gradient.

I love that feeling when you are almost there, can see the GPS indicating 40miles, 30miles, 20miles,....you know you will be soon home and it give you a great boost to push harder.

But then the reward at 14miles from london, you can see canary wharf in the horizon!!

We made it and reached Brixton very fast for 9pm where we did split. It was a great trip, legs were feeling fine and no sickness for me. Because we used pdlouche's GPS on the way down (which made us doing more miles than necessary), we done probably 60 + 120 miles so 180miles total in 24hrs. Then 24hrs rest, good food and limited sleep to finally kick off another 24hrs cycling using my GPS for 55 + 105 so 160miles.

So 340miles in 3 days London to Paris return. pdlouche can be proud of himself as he never done (and never thought he could do) such a distance. As always, this kind of trip is more in your head rather than your legs.

Road we used in the UK:

Clapham Common
Coulsdon
Bletchingley
Turners hill
North chailey
Swanborough
Newhaven

FRANCE

Dieppe
Gournay en bray
jouy sous thelle
Marines
Pontoise
Nanterre

Maybe not the nicest route to get into Paris but as on the way down, the GPS messed up and we end up all the way up to Beauvais, it was time to arrive rather fast to avoid more sun exposure. Plus we had to get my friend's flat keys from Nanterre (west side of Paris).

Well I hope this summary / pictures will help some and give the desire to do it too.

Santino