It's not JUST about the bike

With apologies to Mr Armstrong, I decided to subtitle my usual Blog "It's not JUST the bike". For the next 3 weeks Sue and I are in France for my 60th birthday. Although I have my new fixie with me this time, the blog will not be JUST about the bike but the food, wine, sights of the Loire and 2 weeks in Paris.

There will however be an insight to surviving Paris on a straight gear fixie and possibly some stories on training at the Paris Velodrome or in the parks of Paris with the Roadies.
What's a fixie I hear you say - It's a bike without gears, yes just one gear for all terrains and the pedals keep turning - no coasting at all. In Paris it is perfect. As for Mt Ventoux, forget it.

This is our fourth trip to France since 2006 and although our usual blog is Melbourne Our Home, France has become our other home in a way. We've met people who have become long distance friends, two who are cyclists, others being Bloggers or people we have met by renting their cottages or apartments.

On our first trip to Paris we stayed in the Sorbonne district on the west bank. Just up from our hotel on Rue Gay Lussac near the Luxembourg Gardens was this little cafe bar where we would enjoy a glass of cool refreshing ale in the sunny autumn afternoon. Since then we have experienced their spring twice and again this fourth trip we are hoping that France's harsh winter will give way to some sunshine.

Ours is the "slow travel" method where we can park ourselves for a week at a time and enjoy the sights and meet the people of the region.

On our last to visits to France, I've taken my straight gear bike, the one I rode in the Warrnambool road race in the early 80s. It also gives me an opportunity to discover the villages and country lanes on the bike. I call this training but in reality is just pure relaxing enjoyment.

From what I can tell of Europe's long cold winter I'll need to pack the winter training gear.

We promise you regular and almost daily sights, scenes and experiences from Paris over the 3 week period.

You'll notice on our Blog sight in the side bar, a section called "Followers". You need to register or post a comment as anonymous. we would really like to hear from readers while we are away.

Where is the Paris traffic???