Every once in a while I win the scheduling lottery and get a sweet trip that I couldn’t otherwise hold, even at my fairly high seniority.
This one is pretty sweet indeed. Deadhead to Paris, fly back and forth between Paris and Dublin for 10 days and deadhead home. Nice long layovers in Paris and Dublin. It’s a tough gig but someone’s got to do it.
So what to do on a 55 hour layover in Paris? I’m fortunate to have visited Paris enough times to see most of the major attractions. It’s a nice warm day in July and I really don’t feel like fighting a bunch of sweaty tourists to see the Mona Lisa. I’d rather go for a bike ride.
I’d really like to get my hands on a decent road bike and put some miles in, but that doesn’t seem to be an option. Most of what was available for rent in Paris seemed to be guided tours or city bikes. Since I noticed a bike share docking station right next to the hotel in Bercy I thought I’d give it a go.
Paris has several bike-share networks but the original and most extensive is Vélib’.
Bike-share normally works on a subscription basis where you only pay for what you use. The billing systems are normally geared towards short point-to-point rides with additional charges incurred if you keep the bike for more than 30 minutes. Basically they want you to ride from Point A to Point B, and then get another bike when you’re ready to go back to Point A.
Five Euros for a 24 hour subscription seemed like a good deal. Even if I incur the extra charges it’s cheaper and more convenient than your average bike rental. I’ve been charged as much as $100 per day for a high-end road bike in some cities (plus a $1000 or more deposit on my credit card).
The Vélib’ bikes are sturdy, step-through “city” bikes with three-speed internal hubs. Lights, bell, fenders are all integrated. I’m not sure what they weigh, but they’re on the heavy side. The one I rode felt like riding our tandem by myself.
The cool thing, is that about a third of their fleet are now E-Bikes. Basically the same bike but with a battery and motor. Since I’d never ridden an E-Bike I thought I’d give it go.
Now I could do a whole diary about E-Bikes (and will at some point). For now I’ll just say that E-Bikes, like electric cars, are a very big deal. I would categorize them as still in the “Wild West” stage of development. There are a lot of different variations with different levels of performance. Motor in front, motor in back, motor in the middle driving the crank. Battery pack wherever they can make it fit. You can even get kits to turn a regular bike into an E-Bike.
The Vélib’ E-Bikes are “pedal assist”, meaning that you ride it like any other bike and the motor just helps you go faster and climb hills easier. There is no “throttle mode” that would let you cruise without pedaling.
The fastest I got out of one was maybe 35 kph, pedaling in top gear for all I was worth. Normally I cruised at a stately 20 kph. In city traffic you’re not going to go all that fast anyway and I found I could usually keep up with the stream of traffic.
You can ride these bikes easily enough in street clothes. Since they’re step-through frames you can even ride one wearing a skirt. I don’t look good in a skirt so I wear bike shorts with a pair of gym shorts on top to disguise them. The good people of Paris don’t need to see me in bike shorts. Quelle horreur!
Most bike shares don’t provide helmets and neither do some rental outfits. I always bring a helmet with me because I won’t get on a bike without one.
Paris is rated as a fairly bike-friendly city. Cycling is part of French culture and they tend to respect bikes on the road. Still it requires a bit of courage to mix it up with the stream of taxis, buses, trams, delivery trucks, motorcycles, scooters and pedestrians. Most of whom are braver than I am.
Time to gird my loins for the coming ordeal. I’m not sure what loins are, but consider them girded.
My objectives are: don’t die, don’t get hurt, don’t hurt anyone else, and avoid situations requiring a lawyer. Actually I find that to be a pretty good philosophy for life in general.
So where to ride? Paris can be a tough city to navigate by car or bike. It’s a mess of streets probably going back to medieval days that wander off on various angles. Imagine Boston except the signs are in French. Fortunately there are signs that point towards the major landmarks and train stations that will at least get you going in the right direction. I found that Google Maps with the bicycling overlay was pretty helpful. Even then I had to backtrack multiple times after the street I was on angled off in some other direction.
In order of priority I prefer to ride:
Dedicated bike paths
Dedicated bike lane
”Bike friendly” road (note that some are friendlier than others)
Sidewalk (only as a last resort and only if nobody is on it)
The good news is Paris has a pretty decent number of bike lanes. Some are protected by a curb and others are just designated by a white line. The bad news is the bike lanes tend to get used as loading zones in this very densely packed city. It’s not uncommon to come up on a car or truck sitting in the bike lane with its flashers on.
A couple times I decided my safest course of action was just to merge into traffic and take the lane. Parisian drivers are pretty jaded and not much seems to bother them. I figure they’ve probably seen it all by now.
Pedestrians also like to wander into the bike lanes. Occasionally they even look up from their cell phone but don’t bet on it. Use caution. Especially near the touristy areas. They’re probably too busy trying to take a selfie in front of the Arc de Triomphe to notice you.
As comedian John Fugelsang said: Instead of a bell I want a horn that yells in Samual L. Jackson’s voice “Get the hell out of the bike lane!”
Intersections are where you buy it. Doesn’t matter if you’re on a bike or motorcycle, in a car or on foot. Intersections are dangerous. Watch the turn lanes. All of them. Know where your escape route is if someone turns into you.
You also have to watch out for those damn electric scooters. The ones that now litter the sidewalks of San Francisco, LA and even Columbus Ohio. They are frequently piloted by tourists in various stages of inebriation. I watched a guy take a pretty bad spill on one right in front of Notre Dame.
In Europe you also have to watch out for trams. They move quickly and don’t make much noise.
French cars sound different because most of them are diesels. After a while you learn to listen for that distinctive “ticka ticka ticka” sound coming up behind you.
There were a few of the bigger intersections where I decided discretion was the better part of valor and crossed with the pedestrians. I saw some of the local riders doing the same thing so I didn’t feel bad.
Now the fastest way to get around Paris is neither bike nor car. The Metro (subway) which will get you (and several hundred of your closest friends) pretty much anywhere underground at 50 mph. However I thought the bike was good way to get around while seeing the sights and getting some exercise while I’m at it.
In Parisian traffic I could probably get across town on the E-Bike at least as fast as by car. Trust me, you really don’t want to drive in Paris anyway and they would prefer you not drive there.
www.crit-air.fr/…
www.reuters.com/…
I thought the bike was good way to get a workout and do some sightseeing at the same time. Don’t be afraid to give it a try.
To the bus driver I cut off. Thank you for not grinding me to Pâté beneath your wheels. My bad.
Riding in Dublin proved to be a different set of challenges. First off it was noticeably cooler and wetter than Paris, even in late July. I had neglected to bring any cool weather cycling clothes or rain gear. Still I managed to get three days of decent cycling weather.
Dublin has a bike-share network, but I couldn’t get it to take either of my credit cards. Time to find a bike shop with rentals.
A quick search turned up a small bike shop a short walk from the hotel downtown. Run by a very nice guy named Pavel who didn’t sound like he was from Ireland (Poland actually).
“Do you have a road bike?” I inquired?
“I’ve got exactly one. A tenner and you can have it for the day.”
One ten-euro note later and I had a yellow Raleigh that looked like it dated back to the 1980’s.
When I plan on renting a bike I bring my own lights, bell, lock and water bottle. Rental bikes are hit or miss on how they’re equipped. Sometimes I bring my own shoes and pedals but I didn’t feel like dragging pedals around Europe for two weeks on this trip. Instead I brought a pair of lace-up mountain-bike shoes that are also decent for walking. They worked fine on the old “rat trap” style pedals on the Raleigh.
The guy at the bike shop assured me that Dublin traffic was “dense but not fast” and I wouldn’t have any troubles. Easy for him to say.
I’ve never driven on the left side of the road and I’ve certainly never biked that way. “Stay left, stay left, stay left” I had to keep reminding myself.
I found left turns at intersections to be easy and right turns to be intimidating. A couple times I just walked the bike through the pedestrian crossings.
Downtown Dublin has a lot of one-way streets and sometimes a right turn involves making three lefts. Watch out for cars, trams, drunk tourists and the blue-and-yellow double-decker buses that seem to outnumber cars in Dublin.
I have a mirror on my helmet, but of course it’s on the left side and didn’t do me much good when the cars are passing on my right. I found this to be a big disadvantage. At my age it’s difficult for me to turn my neck past 90 degrees and I tend to rely on that mirror.
Downtown Dublin is congested with cars, buses, tourists and cyclists. I saw a lot of riders doing things that I won’t do like lane splitting and shooting through intersections.
I like to call this NAFD — No Apparent Fear of Dying.
A rider in front of me almost got hit when a car pulled the classic turn-across-his-lane maneuver. I always try to stay out of people’s blind spots for that reason.
Always expect the worst. When I cross an intersection or driveway where a car is waiting to turn I try to make eye contact with the driver. I also watch the cars wheels because I’ll see the wheels start to turn a split-second before I perceive the car actually moving. That split second may make the difference if I have to take evasive action.
Once I made my way out of downtown it became a lot less nerve wracking.
My first ride was to the west.
West of downtown I found a nice bike path that went past Phoenix Park. By accident I stumbled across the Royal Canal, which has a bike path running along part of it. I didn’t even know Dublin had canals (I need to get out of the pub more often).
On my next ride I decided to try the other direction and head east to the coast.
Once again Google maps was a big help and I was able to find a bike lane and later a bike bath that took me out to Howth, which is a little peninsula on the coast.
Getting there was pretty easy. There is a dedicated bike lane that connects to an actual bike path out to the peninsula. I have to remind myself to ride on the left side of the bike path and pass the slower riders on the right. I actually pass quite a few people. The old Raleigh feels quick and responsive. It predates indexed shifting but the rear derailleur shifts like butter. The front derailleur had long since been removed.
Dublin is relatively flat but the Howth peninsula gets hilly. I’m used to a triple chain-ring touring bike but I had no trouble climbing on the stripped-down Raleigh.
I had a nice offshore breeze on the way back into town and decided it was time to see what the old bike could do. I had no front derailleur but the big chain-ring was still there and I stopped and manually put the chain on it.
I start hitting it hard and the old bike stretches its legs and runs. My GPS says I’m making 20 mph which for me at least is pretty damn good. The bike just feels right. Quick, light but still comfortable. “Steel is real” as they say.
When I asked my local bike shop guy about it he said “Something something Reynolds 531 tubing”.
I need another bike like I need another hole in my head, but it made me want to build a classic steel racing bike. Fortunately Mrs. Kong finds my cycling addiction endearing.
I thought the bike was a great way to get some exercise and see something outside of the busy tourist areas. Beats sitting in the pub all day or riding a tour bus.