Thanks in advance.
Joshua Bryant
Portland, OR
cycles-j-bryant.blogspot.com
Anyway, you may make an agreement now with someone who gets busted
between now and PBP.
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http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/07/business/global/07rent.html
We have stayed in St Quentin twice and in Paris once, and I have to say I enjoyed staying in Paris more. We were careful about the Paris location and were pretty close to an RER station with a direct connection to St Quentin and it was pretty painless to go out there for the inspection and PBP. We've stayed in: 1) the Campanile (nice, very convenient to the start and pre-rides), 2) the Gril in Plaisir (not as nice, not convenient at all to the train station or the start, being about 6k from the station and 10k from the start and having buses that stop running at around 8 pm), and 3) a hotel in Paris (comparable to the Campanile, 10 minutes by bike from the RER station on line C). On the other hand, if you stay in St Quentin but want to tour in Paris much you have to be careful of
catching the last train out to the suburbs, and you'll kill a bit of time in the RER stations on both ends--the RER trains aren't quite as frequent as the metro and quit running before the metro. A day trip to St Quentin prior to PBP for a ride was pretty easy, and I didn't want to ride every day anyway. Cost comparison for a similar hotel was about half to stay in Paris using recent inflated St Quentin prices for comparison, and it was closer to the museums and sidewalk cafes. One disadvantage to staying in Paris: if I had finished at 2 in the morning I was stuck in St Quentin until the first train at 6 or 7 am unless I wanted to hire a cab. My plan was to sleep in the gym at the finish if that happened, but thanks to the rain I was a bit behind that schedule ;-) and finished in the sunshine in 2007. FYI, it is fine to take a non rush hour trip on the RER with
your bike, but bikes are not allowed on the metro. Bikes in cases are OK on both RER and metro. |
Moving along with Cris's points.
For those who arrive in France for PBP with non-PBP entrants (friends,
family) or have a shorter timetable but still want their cake and eat it too
(I am optimistic that this can be done) or choose to explore one of the most
spectacular cities our world has to offer, I would encourage you to stay in
Paris before and after PBP and take the RER C line train to the start. Of
course you can always bike but the train is a viable option. Hotels in Paris
can be priced very similar to those in St. Quentin area. Many if not most
hotels will also find a place for your bike. If a number of riders chose
similar Paris hotels, a similar social experience as St. Quentin could be
had with the advantage of endless venues. Family and friends can continue
their Paris experience while you're off tackling the Roc.
The RER C line is a newer line that is set up to transport bikes from Paris
to St. Quentin en Yvelines and back. In 2007, I also stayed in Paris with my
spouse and thoroughly enjoyed the city for 5-6 days before boarding the
train at Javel (near the Eiffel Tower) for a relaxing 29 minute train ride
virtually to the start. I walked through the specially designed turnstile
for bike and rider then placed my bike on the train by my seat and enjoyed
about 15 minutes of shut eye (not seen again for another 34 hours). The cost
wasn't a factor.
Schedule on RER C Line (and other lines) is found at
http://www.transilien.com/web/site/lang/en (place 'J' in departure box and
choose Javel and then 'Q' in Arrival box and choose Saint Quentin en
Yvelines or visa versa together with the date and time) The C Line provides
a fairly robust schedule with trains about every 30 minutes from Javel
(Paris) starting at 0444 with last train at 2347 and from St. Quentin
starting at 0508 with last train at 2347. There is 5 hour gap without
service from midnight - I handled this with the post ride meal, a shower and
a beer then boarded the train. You could always ride to Paris if so tempted.
Riding through the Paris streets along the Seine at 7 AM after finishing PBP
and the subsequent train ride felt like a victory lap (of course all in my
own head).
Rail map is available at
http://parisbytrain.com/files/2008/07/rer_c_line_map.pdf .
Staying in Paris does broaden your options.
Cheers,
Tracy
Tracy Barill
3515 Sunset Boulevard,
North Vancouver, BC
Canada V7R3Y1
-----Original Message-----
From: ran...@googlegroups.com [mailto:ran...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of
cris.co...@gmail.com
Sent: Monday, July 26, 2010 11:49 AM
To: randon
Subject: [Randon] Re: Paris stay, pre-PBP
On Jul 19, 11:23 pm, Mark Wooldridge < <mailto:mdw...@yahoo.com>
mdw...@yahoo.com> wrote:
<http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/Paris-to-PBP-start>
http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/Paris-to-PBP-start
<http://travel.nytimes.com/2010/07/18/travel/18couch.html?ref=travel>
http://travel.nytimes.com/2010/07/18/travel/18couch.html?ref=travel
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Therefore, if you plan to stay in Paris and take the RER C, the best
places to stay would be in the 15th arrondissement, unless you want to
cycle to Invalides. I like cycling in Paris but it's not everyone's
cup of tea.
If you read French here's a useful summary:
<http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ligne_C_du_RER_d'Île-de-France#La_ligne_C_aujourd.27hui>
Brian
On Tue, Jul 27, 2010 at 3:33 AM, Tracy Barill <tra...@nursecom.com> wrote:
> For those who arrive in France for PBP with non-PBP entrants (friends,
> family) or have a shorter timetable but still want their cake and eat it too
> (I am optimistic that this can be done) or choose to explore one of the most
> spectacular cities our world has to offer, I would encourage you to stay in
> Paris before and after PBP and take the RER C line train to the start.
--
Brian W. Ogilvie <bwog...@gmail.com>
Hadley, Massachusetts, USA
http://homepage.mac.com/brianogilvie/
We stayed 5 or 10 minutes away from the station Javel (by bicycle) in 2007; if you're looking at hotels just find them on a map and see how far the closest RER line C station is (considering the gap described in Brian's email below).
Even if you don't stay in Paris, this is the line you'll take if you decide to go into the city.
Just in case you don't realize it, the RER lines are in addition to the Metro lines. If you don't have an assembled bike with you, you can also use the metro lines, giving access to almost everywhere in Paris:
http://www.paris.org/Metro/gifs/metro.pdf.
The RER and Metro trains truly are simple to use after you've used them once or twice, and let you travel independently throughout Paris. One caution, however: there are lots of stairs in almost every station of the metro and RER both.
Mark
--- On Tue, 7/27/10, Brian Ogilvie <bwog...@gmail.com> wrote:
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"Let me tell you what I think of bicycling. I think it has done more to emancipate women than anything else in the world. It gives women a feeling of freedom and self-reliance. I stand and rejoice every time I see a woman ride by on a wheel...the picture of free, untrammeled womanhood."--Susan B. Anthony