FNRttC The Fridays tour 2014

[redfalo]

On another subject, what types of bikes are you all going to be taking? I was going to bring my road bike but I was thinking of my hybrid which is a more comfortable ride and sitting up I think I'll see a bit more of the country.

Many tend to use road bikes, some are on tandems, touring bikes, folders. Whatever you prefer. I'll do it either on my Brompton or my Moulton TSR. As @dellzeqq likes to point out: "It’s not about the type of bike." (While I personally don't share his philosophy regarding mudgards, racks and so on).

 

[mmmmartin]

what types of bikes.

The trip is designed to allow you to bring the bike you want to ride, with the luggage being carried south so you don't have to worry about carrying luggage on the bike, and the bike being brought back in the van so you don't have to worry about that bit either. So if you want to ride a hybrid, go ahead. If you have a light speedy bike you like riding, bring that. A lot of effort has gone into giving you that choice.
If it helps, I will be riding a steel-framed audax bike with a rack and a saddlebag. No one will be riding faster than me, unless they especially want to get lost ;-)
So riding a "hybrid"* won't be a problem if you want to bring it.

*the modern name for what, when I started riding, used to be called "a bike".

 

[StuAff]

The trip is designed to allow you to bring the bike you want to ride, with the luggage being carried south so you don't have to worry about carrying luggage on the bike, and the bike being brought back in the van so you don't have to worry about that bit either. So if you want to ride a hybrid, go ahead. If you have a light speedy bike you like riding, bring that. A lot of effort has gone into giving you that choice.
If it helps, I will be riding a steel-framed audax bike with a rack and a saddlebag. No one will be riding faster than me, unless they especially want to get lost ;-)
So riding a "hybrid"* won't be a problem if you want to bring it.

*the modern name for what, when I started riding, used to be called "a bike".

Mark will be faster than any of us. Unless we nick his drugs.

 

[StuartG]

No one will be riding faster than me

No one will be riding slower than me - unless they have a catastrophic mechanical. As Gideon may say we are all in it together. Except mmmmartin means it - I hope!

 

[Ian at fleet]

Merci for all the advice, I think I will bring my hybrid "whyte malvern" along its a much more comfortable ride. I warn you all now I don't do fast down hill!

 

[lilolee]

Who does? I go faster up them than down

 

[Ian at fleet]

Who does? I go faster up them than down

Me too, I need the excercise.

 

[mmmmartin]

Dellzeqq used a taxi for the luggage from Pompey to the ferry check-in. And I think for the reverse.
Could you put the bag in a taxi from home to the railway station, and from the railway station in portsmouth to the ferry terminal? it seems a shame if you cannot ride your favourite bike for a whole week.
and i understand ian is planning to drop bags at the hotels (assuming there is not a ridiculous number of them) so that bit should be no problem.
As for the journey at the end to the ferry terminal, well that is about 9 kilometres. @srw is talking about the distance from check-in to the actual boat, you could walk that.
maybe we could put bags in the van and drive the van to the ferry to drop the bags off before returning the van.
let me have a bit of a think about this.

 

[Andrew Br]

Dellzeqq used a taxi for the luggage from Pompey to the ferry check-in. And I think for the reverse.

maybe we could put bags in the van and drive the van to the ferry to drop the bags off before returning the van.
let me have a bit of a think about this.

Another option that occurs to me is to use our car to carry some luggage from the van drop-off point in Caen to the ferry terminal while y'all ride your bikes there.
We're planning to leave the car at the hotel where we're staying on the Friday night* before Le Tour starts (the same hotel as Ian and mmmmmartin).
I can sort out the logistics for picking the car up with Ian and mmmmartin.
We're planning to get the train from Bordeaux on the Saturday morning.

A further bonus of having the car there is that I'll be able to bring a track pump and tools to put in the van.

*I must chase up the hotel; I asked about leaving the car there for the duration but I don't think that they've replied.

.

 

[redfalo]

In other exciting news gordon is in paris, and because the recce for the recce never stops, has ventured into a huge warehouse owned by Monsieur Bricolage. it seems i was incorrect in my understanding of the french word for bubble wrap. gordon tells me it is called "film a bulles".
but at least we now know where we can buy it. this stuff comes in rolls 50 metres long and 1 metre wide so 2 of those should do the trick.

Luckily, we finally resolved the puzzle of how to get rid of le bubble wrap afterwards. Just take a detour on the catamaran linking the Isle of Wight with
tiny little England the rest of the world, aka "the vomit comet", and use the bin on the sun deck.

 

[ianmac62]

Merci for all the advice, I think I will bring my hybrid "whyte malvern" along its a much more comfortable ride. I warn you all now I don't do fast down hill!

Not to be confused with a Whyte Melville.
.

 

[ianmac62]

i understand ian is planning to drop bags at the hotels (assuming there is not a ridiculous number of them) so that bit should be no problem.

Indeed that is what I am planning. If anyone wants to collect their luggage at the end of the day from the central hotel, that would be fine too.

I shall aim to be very flexible and to remember that it is your holiday!

 

[ianmac62]

maybe we could put bags in the van and drive the van to the ferry to drop the bags off before returning the van.
let me have a bit of a think about this.

What mmmmartin needs to think about is the deadline for returning the van. We wouldn't want to incur an extra day's hire charge.

 

[ianmac62]

I had a feeling there was a bit more cycling involved somewhere, but couldn't find a reference to the 9 kilometres.

I may have posted the reference to nine miles (not kilometres) in the convo rather than in this thread. The ride from Place de la Gare, Caen, to the entrance to the ferry terminal at Ouistreham is just short of ten miles. The first half-mile is along streets; the remaining nine-and-a-half miles is along a flat, well-tarmacked cycle path alongside a pretty canal.

http://ridewithgps.com/trips/1975982

When we leave the ferry terminal at Ouistreham on Saturday 14th June you'll pedal south on this cycle path as far as the café at Pegasus Bridge.

 

[ianmac62]

What is it for you?

A pleasure!