I thought I would start this by saying, “I don’t ever recommend packing up your house and leaving overseas for an extended cycling trip at the same time”. However, it turns out that being crazy busy at work, and then running like mad to pack and move makes a 24 hour international flight really quite enjoyable. Every time we fly we feel a bit like sardines in a tin can, itching to get off and move around. This time, it was practically my idea of heaven. We got to sit still, watch some movies, have a nap, and then have people make and deliver food when we were hungry, and clean up when we were done. The shine did start to wear off after about 20 hours, mind you, but thats 19 more hours of enjoyment then we normally get. We arrived at Charles de Gaulle airport at 2pm, and set about finding a good place to reconstruct our bikes (as our plan was to ride from the airport to where we were staying, just inside the centre ring of paris). Matt did an awesome job putting them back together, and within a little over 2 hours we had collected baggage, navigated the airport maze, put the bikes back together, and were ready to start our first ride.
The cycle from the airport was surprisingly lovely. We followed directions we’d found online (thanks to David “Q.” May) and managed not to get lost. The first part (about 8 km) out of the airport was on some fairly busy roads, but the cars here seem to be very patient and give you a wide birth. The remaining 22km were mostly on dedicated bike paths along quiet streets and the canal du l’Ourcq, heading towards Parc de la Villette.
We stayed at a really cute little airbnb place off Avenue de Flandre. (thought we might give the tent a miss on our first night), and after finding some much needed food, crawled into our beds in the house’s gorgeous cool dark basement and slept the sleep of the dead. One day down, 7 months to go. P.S. Happy Birthday Kiku!!!
4ks an hour 