Hey have fun guys, I’ve done much of this ride at various times except for the very last bit into Paris and it’s a nice trip.
When you’re going out of Greenwich, be careful with the cycle route, there’s one dodgy place where if you miss a sign you end up riding in circles.
Annoyed I can’t make it, but I’m busy working on a show Thu/Fri/Sat/Sunday which kind of ruled it out.
Joe
Hey !
( I am so bad in English! sorry oO)
If you wish it, we can you find under the Eiffel Tower on Tuesday at about 2 pm… One shall spend the day together, then one shall go to meet to Chatellet at 8 pm…
You have of what live in Paris?
You leave on Wednesday?
You need a supplementary plan to make Paris -> Buthiers ?
Ady, Stooff & Guitou
Thanks for all the replies guys. It would be great to meet anyone who’s around at any point on the ride.
We’ll be leaving from the Cutty Sark at Greenwich (not the Dome anymore) between 7 and 7:30 on Saturday morning, arriving in Newhaven sometime later, we have a ferry to catch at about 10pm.
We begin the French part of the ride in Dieppe at about 6am on Sunday, we’ll probably try and find somewhere to eat before we ride very far, we’re aiming to ride 50 miles on Sunday and another 50 miles on Monday, but we’ve not fixed exactly where we’re staying yet.
We’re planning a short ride on Tuesday as we’re all flying home on Tuesday evening. We will start about 20 miles from the Eiffel tower so we should be there by 12 noon perhaps a little earlier, we’ll have a little time to relax before we leave for the airport, but I expect we will have left by 2pm.
If anyone is near the Eiffel tower between 12:00 and 14:00 on Tuesday there’s a good chance you’ll see us - we should be fairly easy to spot! 
Looks like it’s going to be a great weekend for it.
Cheers,
Paul
Sorry to hear that’s you’ll be leaving so quickly 
Good luck anyway !
Better late than never to update everyone on this…
From Steve Colligan, 21 Oct 07:07am (yesterday):
“Arrived at ferry safe and sound after 14 hours with 15 mins to spare. Sat in cafe in Dieppe at the moment waiting for it to get light. -1 deg C outside. Been here two hours so far. Feeling good after 83 miles yesterday. Steve”
Keep going guys!
Sam
Good to know they’re off to a good start. Thanx for the update.
Update 22nd Oct.
Update from Steve Colligan - 22-Oct 22:05
“3 days done - 1 morning to go. Turning into a real epic. Over 2500m of ascent and 190 miles travelled so far. All still in one piece.”
Allez Mark, Steve (x2) et Paul !
Chris
More from Steve, up to date this time:
“3 days done - 1 morning to go. Will need to leave first light in morning. Turning into a real epic. Over 2500m of ascent and 190 miles so far. All still in one piece. Steve”
Update: I should type faster, and not go off in the middle of a post.
Update from Steve Colligan 23-Oct 12:35
“just arrived at the Eiffel Tower - yeh!”
Well done guys, you are in-Seine 
Chris
Thanks Sam & Chris for posting the short texts I sent you.
What a fantastic unsupported ride to Paris we’ve had. The whole ride turned into quite an epic, right up to the last minute while trying to get out of Paris to the airport.
I’m sure we’ll get round to posting the hi-lights here.
Unfortunately Steve Robertson couldn’t join us in the end due to a chest infection, so it was just the three Cokers. Mark Wiggins, Paul Royle and myself will have no problems qualifying for RTL.
In the end we covered 215 miles and 2843m of ascent in 3 1/2 days. There were about 7 hours of riding in the dark and +20 miles of riding off-road (the first day) on terrain more in keeping with Mountain Mayhem. Each day would start off with the temperatures below feezing and never really warm up throughout the day either.
Paul and Mark are still on there way home as they flew home at a later time than myself and to different UK airports.
I’m off to bed now for some much needed sleep.
Steve
Congratulations…but I think you over-qualified!
What did the ratings work out to for the 4 days including the subjective factors?
—Nathan
Hi Nathan,
I’ve just worked out the objective and subjective ratings for the 4 days.
Over the first 2 days our rating came out at 861. We will be submitting a write up to RTL in due course.
I’ll also post a write up here later in the week. Just a little busy at the moment. 
Steve, Paul & Mark
What’s the rating for each of the days Steve?
Day 1: 573
Day 2: 288
Day 3: 308
Day 4: 162
This is objective and subjective remember.
Steve
Cheers!
Wow, that’s impressive. Those are harder days on average than we do on our tours. See you in Nov Scotia!!
—Nathan
Day 1.
Our plan was to ride from London to Paris unsupported in 3 ½ days and then fly back to the UK. We were also going to use the first two days as our qualifying ride for Ride the Lobster.
Our ride was to start on the River Thames in Greenwich, London. Paul Royle, Mark Wiggins and I met up at 7.30am, for a 7.50am start. We were all riding big wheels and carrying extra gear in our packs, as we were riding unsupported. It was a chilly start to the day due to the clear skies. We followed Sustrans Cycle Network Route 21 out of London which seemed to take a lifetime even though the route was well signed – it was all those endless junctions and so countless dismounts!! The weather continued to be excellent, apart from the cold throughout the day. Once out of London things became hillier and more off-road. At times we thought the route would be better suited to a muni and not the 36ers we were riding.
It became obvious that this ride was going to take a lot longer than planned. Our ferry wasn’t going to leave until 10pm that evening, so we thought we had plenty of time. This was not the case!! The hills slowed us down, the rough off-road slowed us down, the mud slowed us down, getting a little lost a couple of times slowed us down, saddle soreness certainly slowed us down and I’m sure riding in the bitterly cold and dark with no street lighting slowed us down (we had minimal riding lights due to weight saving). The Sustrans route didn’t exactly take us the most direct route, but a more scenic zigzagging way from London to Newhaven on the coast.
The only decent stop we had was for a late lunch in a pub. Mid afternoon it became apparent that we chasing time to catch our ferry. Taking a wrong turn before Brighton in dark didn’t help either – nor did the endless traffic lights as we rode through Brighton. We gave stopping for food on the sea front a miss as we were struggling for time. The last 3 hours were in the dark and on mostly unlit country lanes with one off-road section that almost ended our plans of catching the ferry. This particular off-road section was across the cliffs above our destination, Newhaven. It wasn’t lit at all and we decided that it wouldn’t be possible to ride it, even during daylight – it really was rough. Then it was through the streets of Newhaven to the port. After taking a wrong turn into the ferry port, then getting stopped at two level crossings, we boarded the ferry with only 15 minutes to spare.
That first day was the hardest, as we clocked up 84 miles (135km). Over 20 miles (30km) were off-road and 3 hours of it were in the dark. It was bitterly cold once things got dark, not to mention for the rest of the day. We did manage to climb 1150 metres and descend the same. To make things even harder we were carrying up to 8kg on our backs with gear and water. On the ferry we had a 4 berth cabin with a shower that was well used that first night. We all felt extremely tired, but relieved to actually make it to the ferry in time. 14 hours from leaving London to getting on the ferry - not good. 
Day 2.
Unfortunately we couldn’t even have a decent rest that night on the ferry as we were woken at 5.15am to disembark at 6am. To make things even worse, we lost an hour due to having to adjust our watches to French time. So really it was 4.15am UK time that we were awoken. We didn’t really have an early night either as we needed to eat once we boarded and have showers. That meal on the ferry was our first proper food in 10 hours as we had no time to stop and eat on route in fear of missing our ferry.
We got off the ferry at 6am into one hell-of-a ‘grim’ place. Dieppe at 6am in total darkness, at -1 deg C, with a freezing sea mist blowing across the harbour, with no sign of life, it was certainly one of our low points. It was definitely cold that morning and was not helped by the fact that we were all wearing cycle shorts!
It was like a different world wandering around those streets in Dieppe looking for any sign of life, in the form of somewhere that we could have breakfast and warm up. While riding around the streets we noticed the temperature was indicating -1 deg C. There was just the one place open, which happened to be a shop selling bread, croissants and the likes. There wasn’t anywhere to sit, so we stood there eating freshly baked croissants - really delicious. After four croissants we had another look around town in the hope of finding somewhere we could sit and have a hot drink. Another bread shop had now opened, so we had a further two croissants! Still dark and cold we wandered again - this time a cafe had opened. We sat in the cafe having hot drinks until things were light outside. It was 9am and 3 hours after arriving in Dieppe before we finally hit the road.
The first thing we noticed was the awful camber on the roads, as we’re now riding on the opposite side of the road to the UK. We’re not use to riding with the camber going the opposite direction - and pretty steep at times as well. This camber was to plague us over the next couple of days. Several miles out of town and we picked up a cycle path running along a disused railway line for the next 40km. This was very smooth, no camber and only a slight incline. Later that day things got slightly hillier as our route took us along small country lanes. In the end we clocked up 504m of ascent in 50 miles (80km). The weather was sunny all day, but remained cold throughout. Oh, we did stop for another croissant as well.
We checked into a hotel in Gournay-en-Bray at about 6pm, so it was another long day. It wasn’t a particularly long distance; we were just tired from the previous days ride.
Day 3
A late start at 10am due to being too lazy and tired from the previous two days. This was a big mistake! Another good day with the weather, apart from the cold. This day was far hillier than the previous day and harder to navigate once we got closer to Paris. We struggled to find somewhere to eat during the day. The only place open was… , yes another bread shop. This one sold pizzas though! We rode through many small villages throughout the day, but all were deserted and their shops closed. We couldn’t find shops open so that we could refuel our camelbaks, so we had to resort to knocking on doors. Most of the day we were riding on quiet country lanes, but as we approached Paris’ suburbs, things became far busier. The last couple of hours were in the dark and cold. We decided that it wasn’t safe to continue riding in the dark on the busy roads, so we looked for somewhere to stay. Eventually we found a travel inn and checked into their only available room at 9pm. This was 11 hours after setting off. No wonder we were tired, as we had clocked up 915m of ascent as well.
Day 4
We were up at 6am for a 6.30 breakfast. Left the hotel at 7.15am as we had to get to Paris and the Eiffel Tower before midday. It was freezing levels again outside and very dark. Another great start to the day.
I lost the other two within 10 mins of starting due to me taking photos of a frozen car - or more to the point, what I wrote on the frozen windscreen of the car! Fortunately the night before I took a photo of the town map when we were trying to find accommodation. With the aid of the LCD display on the back of the camera and a call on the mobile, we were soon reunited and on our way again. The first 1/2 hour or so was slow going, due to having to walk through woods in the dark to meet up with the cycle path. Once on the cycle path and things becoming lighter, our speed started to increase.
The roads became busier the closer we got to the Eiffel Tower. We also had more junctions to negotiate, which just slowed us down time and time again. It wasn’t much fun racing against time to get there before midday. I still remember that first view of the Eiffel Tower through the morning haze of the city. Even though we’d only been going a few days, it was still a special moment - our goal being insight now. There was still quite a distance to go though.
We kept pushing on - mostly having bum stops at traffic lights and at major road junctions. As we became closer and the roads even busier we had to resort to riding on pavements to help keep our momentum going. After 4 1/2 hours and 25 miles, we reached our target - The Eiffel Tower.
Yes, it was a wonderful feeling. In the end we all made it there without injury. The overall distance came out at 215 miles (346km). Not too bad I suppose in 3 1/2 days. Things seemed even colder in the centre of Paris than on the outskirts for some reason. After the mandatory photos were taken, we started to make our way to the airport bus stop, 2 miles away. It was now midday and my flight left at 4.20pm. Nothing goes to plan does it? We had a major hiccup with our plan to get to the airport.
We could actually ride the first mile towards that bus stop, but then it was walking only, due to volume of traffic and endless traffic lights. We couldn’t even ride on the pavements as they were full of people! Eventually we found the queue for the bus that would take us to the airport. After a short wait the bus pulled in and we were then reassured that it was in fact going to the correct airport (there’s a couple of airports on opposite sides of Paris). Before letting the passengers on the bus the driver stretched his legs by walking along the pavement down the queue of people waiting. As soon as he saw the Cokers he told us that we couldn’t take our unicycles on the bus and he was very adamant about it to. As we waited, another bus going to the airport pulled in behind, so off we went to ask the driver of the bus. Same story! …err NO!
Our plan ‘B’ was to take the train to the airport. The train station was a further 2 miles along the same busy road that we had to push the unis earlier. Time was starting to run out for me to catch my flight so we risked the traffic and rode most of the way to the train station - scary! Within 15 mins of getting to the station we were on the train (with our unis) and heading to the airport - phew!
We got off the train at terminal 1 and had to walk a further 5 mins to terminal 3. I then stripped the uni, removed pedals, deflated the tyre and bagged the thing ready to check in. Back of the queue I waited and waited. I then had to pay for the uni which added a further 10 minutes before returning to the now empty check-in desk before they could give me my boarding card. By the time I got through the x-ray machine and made my way to the departure gate everyone was waiting on the bus to take the passengers to the plane. The original plan was to have plenty of time at the airport so that I could get changed out of my sweaty riding clothes into a clean set for the flight home. I was certainly thinking of this as I stood (crammed in with everyone else) on that bus as it drove across the tarmac to the plane. I had caught my plane in the end, which was such a relief Paul & Mark’s planes departed after mine so weren’t in the same rush as myself.
Steve, Paul & Mark
