Sometime two weeks ago, the plan was put in place and Le Tour de France ala Malaysia was on its way.
Some advice for potential cycling travellers:-
1. If you plan to get the Eurostar to Paris (or where ever), get a rough idea how you are getting to King's Cross/St. Pancras.
- for me, I had to get there by 10am (train due to depart at 10.25am) so I got a bit worried as it meant I would probably have to jostle on the tube for space during the tail end of rush hour at 9am. Eventually, it took me around 40 minutes to get from North Greenwich station to KC/SP without much fuss except some curious eyes on the huge bike bag.
- Oh and another thing, London Eurostar departure halls are heaven compared to their French counterparts. As I usually take the Eurostar to Brussels, which is quite a respectable station, Paris Nord felt like it was part of a ghetto and it took me at least 30 minutes to get through the queue to get to the terminal, luckily I arrived 1 hour early! Over in London, I remember arriving 25 minutes before departure and still made it to the train in 15 minutes.
2. I used my mates X Planet bike bag which was sufficient for its purpose and it met all the standard travel requirements for trains 120cm X 90cm. Now this works relatively well as it fit perfectly in the top section of the Eurostar luggage storage area. When I got on the second stage of my journey to Avignon, I couldn't bring it into the storage area, but managed to place it out of passengers near the exit. My only qualm about the bag though was the lack of wheels which could have made the fight from the Jubilee line to the Northern line easier. Also, the walk from Avignon train station to the hotel was a short but taxing one.
3. As I stated before, I was worried about getting on the trains with bicycles as I was getting various signals from different people about their views on trains and bikes. Well, to be safe, travel like how I did - with your bike bag. The bike bag holds quite a bit of stuff, so there would be more areas to keep extra materials (e.g. lock, spanner, tools, shoes, helmet, extra attire, etc.)
4. Check your shoes, see if any of the screws are missing or if you have spares - What happened to me was on the way to Mont Ventoux, I realised my shoes were a bit loose on the pedals. After unclipping in Carpentras, I realised I was missing a couple of screws. A visit to the local bike shop after lunch - the owner kept stating that he didn't have any TIME (my clip and pedal brand) products, so he could not help me. In the end I had to buy a whole new set of Look pedals for Euro50.
5. When riding, always avoid man hole covers. I know this sounds like one the basic rules to cycling, but I happened to literally stumble upon a man hole cover as we were cycling pass a round a bout. I was more concerned with a car approaching on the right exit that I lost concentration and hit the middle of the man hole cover (there was a hole just big enough to suck in both my wheels) at 40km/h. Initially I thought that I busted BOTH tyres, but upon initial inspection it was merely an optical illusion created by some chewing / bubble gums across the tyre. I probably still am the first and for a long time the only person my cycling mate will know to blow BOTH tubes in a single incident. On the bright side, at least I didn't tumble flat on my face as some may have done.
6. Always do tests run on the GPS before you travel. I didn't do a long session with my GPS on my first trip out before going to France, so I failed to see potential problems I would face as I hit the French soils. After about 2 hours of pretending to be professional cyclist, the GPS advised me to turn right into an unpaved road. Further inspection at Carpentras later, we realised that I had wrongly set it to avoid major streets and go on unpaved roads and not vice versa. After correcting the initial mistake, trips from Bedoin to Avignon took a bit over 2 hours.
7. This is a mini mistake, but when I ordered my Michelin Pro 3 Race tyres, I thought they come in pairs. Now I know, they come as one, so you always need to buy two!
8. Getting a cab with a bike bag - if you plan to do so, expect a feeling of discontentment from the driver. The nature of the bag is that it usually fits an MPV-like taxi and not a normal saloon car. Thus, choose the taxi wisely. Next tip, if there are TWO of you, you'll probably do better with a van like taxi. It will cost more, but it's better than getting into petty arguments and avoiding the possibility of damaging your bike by forcing into a small space.
9. Lodging - We stayed in the Holiday Express in Avignon. Now, it's not a bad place when you consider the price and distance to the train station (15-20 minute walk) and it suits our purpose of getting the train back to Paris as soon as possible (8pm train) after rushing back to Avignon after the tour passed us at the entrance to Bedoin. However, it's worth a little more investigation into alternate options, e.g. leaving for Paris on the earliest train possible the next day, thus enabling us to enjoy an easy stroll from Bedoin to Avignon OR the possibility of viewing the Tour from the top of Mont Ventoux. Another option would be to try and stay closer to Ventoux, say either Carpentras or another small town nearby so that conquering Ventoux wouldn't be so taxing (or any other future climbs!)
10. Climate - This is totally out of human control, but its best be prepared for the worse case scenarios. For Ventoux, I brought along a gilet and some arm warmers just in case it got extremely cold on top of Mont Ventoux. However, battling the cycling under an extremely sunny day (no clouds AT ALL) and temperatures of 35 degree Celsius, planning for pit stops at towns nearby is a wise idea. This is to avoid the possibility of dehydration and some really fowl mood swings (trust me when it's hot and you're dehydrated, getting lost doesn't help with the mood!)
11. A colleague of mine claims that whenever he rides (his mountain bike) he makes sure he brings along an extra derailleur hanger. One of these probably cost about GBP10, but it definitely can save a trip! What happened to me was that as I was weaving through the hundreds of thousand people along the road to the top of Ventoux, I came across a (possibly) Spanish couple who chose to suddenly brake and enjoy the view. As there were other cyclist coming down the hill from the opposite direction and lots of other people walking along the road, I had no option but to brake as well. Unluckily for me (AGAIN) some Brit (the irony) girl rammed her front wheel into the back of my bike. Not suspecting the damaged done, I thought my chain had been dislodged from the crank. Upon closer inspection by the side of the road, I noticed my derailleur hanger had been bent 90 degrees. According to my colleague, this is to prevent damage to the frame. After about 30 minutes to an hour of messing about trying to straighten it, I conceded defeat and took a Frenchman's advice to slowly make my way back to Bedoin and get it repaired at one of the bike shops.
12. Bike shops - from my experience this trip, it would be always good to know WHERE the bike shops are and if possible their hours of operation. For me, I was quite lucky to meet a very helpful and genuine bike shop at the foot of Ventoux. Even though they didn't carry Specialized bike products, he managed to make a bespoke derailleur hanger after I pleaded for some help (bear in mind I had to make it back to Avignon to catch a train that night and with the Tour happening, taxi's were a rarity!)
13. Contingency - not just for cycling trips, but probably applies to all trips around the world, always have extra cash in case you face any of the above problems I had throughout my trip. Always bear in mind not all stores accept credit cards and when some of them do, they charge over the Mont for the use. Extra cash in hand does no harm.
Overall the verdict for this Tour was 6 out of ten. This was because we probably achieved 60% of what we set out to do and bar some major disappointments; there will always be NEXT time. Some of the tips above may sound really like common sense, but as it is, shit happens along the way and even the simplest of issues may become major problems without proper planning.
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