London To Paris this weekend - Any advice?

[Dixie]

I'm riding from London to Paris this weekend as part of a large group in support of a local charity. I have to say i'm really rather excited about it.

Has anybody any interesting stories or recommendations\advice about the trip?

The plan was to ride up the Champs Elysees on Saturday when we arrive but looking at photos of the traffic i think we might have to give it a miss.

[jodypress]

Enjoy the Jelly Babies they're a real lifesaver.

[Dixie]

I've got 12 power bars. Maybe i should add jelly babies to the list also.

We're riding in tiered groups so hopefully the pace will be fairly comfortable.

[richardxjr]

Via Newhaven? Tony H has ridden it iirc, something I must sneak in one weekend as it's just up the coast.

Forecast looks ideal, have fun

[Type R Tom]

Try to eat proper food alongside energy stuff, if you just uses bars / gels / drinks etc. it can really mess your guts up, not what you need on a long ride!

[broster]

Riding up to the champs elysees was a great experience when I did it, we had 3 cars guide us in at around 4pm on a Saturday, wouldn't fancy tackling it as a large group without some kind of vehicle guidance!

[Magic919]

Someone at work is doing the 24 hour version of this, starting Friday. She's a pretty handy cyclist .

[Dixie]

Type R Tom said:

Try to eat proper food alongside energy stuff, if you just uses bars / gels / drinks etc. it can really mess your guts up, not what you need on a long ride!

We did the Way of the Roses last year. All the stops were just flapjack, cake ect. Loads of people had problems because of this. i think the 3 planned stops each day will include sandwiches and such.

Trip doesn't go via Newhaven. London to Dover, Calais to Amies, Amies to Paris.

[Gruffy]

Food and water (along with pacing) is probably the most important thing on long rides. I'd recommend starting off with real food and saving the bars and gels for the final 1/3. Personally I like malt loaf and fig rolls, but bananas, jams sarnies etc, it all works. 60g of carbs per hour, riding at a steady pace and you can go forever.

I'll say it again, because even now I'm guilty of fouling this up, but: Don't forget to eat. Don't forget to drink. It's easy to do and brutal once you've hit that wall.

[TonyHetherington]

Yup I did it via Newhaven > Dieppe, in 24hrs. Was great fun!

As others have said, it's all about eating. On a 3..4..5 hour ride you can get away with gels. But on long days you need actual food.

After doing the Tour de PH a couple of weeks ago (I did all 3 days), I found my guts took a couple of days to get back to normal. I had about 2 gels the entire trip... it was just the fact that I was CONSTANTLY eating - my body wasn't used to it.

So... eat... drink... much more than you think Weather is set to be lovely!

Edited by TonyHetherington on Tuesday 2nd June 09:07

[CooperS]

Type R Tom said:

Try to eat proper food alongside energy stuff, if you just uses bars / gels / drinks etc. it can really mess your guts up, not what you need on a long ride!

I did Glasgow to Fort William on energy jelly babies / pastels and 2 oranges... Skipping lunch at the Green Welly....... Don't do it!

for the last 25 miles (we took a route that meant we rode 110 miles) I felt terrible and went through things I wouldn't want anyone to go through!

Lol good times!

[bakerstreet]

Magic919 said:

Someone at work is doing the 24 hour version of this, starting Friday. She's a pretty handy cyclist .

I did Manchester to London in 24 hours a couple of years ago and that was 240 miles. Think I finished in the middle of the pack at around 19hrs. Worth noting that I was just shy of 100Kg at the time and probably not in the best shape of my life, so you don't have to be a super cyclist to complete the events.

My one bit of advice would be eat alot! We had full meals and snacks provided. Everyone was also given a polite reminder to eat something at the rest stops. I would have been in a bad way if I tried to finish the event on gels and energy bars alone.

The night stages were quite tough and the group spread out a bit and I got very lost with another rider on one stage and I asked if I could cycle with someone for the following night stage.

I'd like to try the L2P 24Hr organised ride one day, but I'd have to self fund it as I cycle a lot and asking people to sponsor a keen cycling to cycle is pushing it IMO.

[HughG]

I did it a couple of years ago with a friend, did it off our own back rather than an organised/charity event and went an unusual and slightly longer route which was:
Day 1 - London-Brighton
Day 2 - Brighton - Newhaven, Dieppe - Gournay-en-bray
Day 3 - Gournay-en-bray - Senlis (basically heading due west)
Day 4 - Senlis - Paris

Day 4 was meant to be a long day round to Versailles, but we got stuck around Charles de Gaulles airport, got hopelessly lost and eventually, after about 10 hours and one massive stack when I got the front wheel stuck in a tram line, found our way to the Eiffel tower, dropped the bikes at Gare du Nord, then got absolutely smashed as we still hadn't eaten anything!