Yes I generally know to dismount, but being in a new busy city trying to navigate and things at the end of a 7 hour day riding these things are easily overlooked in a moment where you make split decision without really thinking about it

Youd think that but I was just as polite, cooperative and civil as my companion. He just got a nicer cop than me.

Yeah bad luck I guess. My route companion got away with a warning from the guys colleague even though neither of us speak french. I would have much preferred an insult than a fine

I hope they throw away the ticket. I suppose I will have to pay to avoid issues later :(

I normally just try to stick to roads and cycle paths regardless. It was an error of judgement and I guess ive learnt the expensive way.

Yeah paris was a mess. I couldnt get near the eiffel tower with all the closures, and im surprised police werent posted there collecting fines as it is carnage trying to figure out where you are and arent allowed. But I will stop past a few more landmarks on the way to gare du nord to get the train to calais tomorrow.

We took avenue verte into paris, we are camped 11 miles from notre dame but it was 30 miles on the official route. Very nice, we saw a lot of paris that you wouldnt see visiting the city centre.

This is true, but london police follow a culture of educate first before punishment. They give a friendly reminder to dismount first. And when the road is blocked for 20 feet it is easy to not even think to dismount.

Thats great to hear. I have struck lucky with the weather again. Camping just outside paris at maisson lafitte, today was supposed to be storms but instead it is hot with blue sky and not a single cloud. I made a travel companion just outside dieppe and we have cycled together, we were allowed to share my pitch here which has saved me €45 for the weekend. I have decided not to cycle back to dieppe, instead I will get the train to calais on monday and ride the euro velo 4 route to dieppe and keep exploring new spaces.

Weather has been great. I hope yours is good currently too!

Aha ive tagged you in while I rest on the ferry then. Yeah glad I made It. The pain-au-chocolates on the boat look like they have been out too long, ill wait until im back on land, where lunches will be baguettes and pastries

It didnt go well. Official london to brighton route is tough, especially with a loaded bike. I think I will stick with my trails route in the future it shaves off about 3 hours off the ride. Got a puncture at the bottom of ditchling beacon and aggrevated a lot of motorists pushing the bike up the hill before I could find a quiet spot to replace the tube. Trains were messed up and it was pretty late by the time I got to newhaven, but luckily I caught the warden at a campsite 15 minutes away from the port and got a cheap tent pitch there so I was close by for the early ferry. On the ferry now with damp socks, and looking forward to the disused train tracks through normandy after all roads and hills yesterday!

Enjoy your break today!

I was doing about the same distance daily on my first tour, just out of sheer enthusiasm really. My knee blew up on the third day and I had to stop at a hotel for 2 nights to recover. I was probably riding in higher gears than I should have been with my bike fully loaded too, but I dont want to have to deal with that again if I can avoid it!

I didn’t know about the new cycling infrastructure, I just looked it up, I don’t remember it being very bike friendly when I flew there years ago.

Yeah I booked the ferry a while back, only £36 each way!

June’s a big one, I will certainly share nearer the time :)

crawling the city center as a proper tourist

On your feet? You poor sod! :D

Thanks :)

Danish breadboard

Thats reassuring, thanks for that. Going to check what my front rack was tested for now :)

I didnt know that. Yeah I think it is 25kg or there about. Thats reassuring to know

My bike came with a tubus cargo classic. No complaints here. Solid and sturdy and ive exceeded the weight limit plenty of times with no issues. The only thing to be mindful of: if you use the standard type rackpack, ie the narrow one and not the ortlieb duffel, mounting panniers blocks off any easy access to the top of the rack, I have to strap my rackpack down with ratchet straps, luckily the altura dryline packs have plenty of spots to thread the straps through. If you use the narrow rackpacks and cant strap through them then go with something with seperate side mounts from the top bars like the logo’s and grand tour

haha, sorry if it made you uncomfortable! It’s a really common cue on a lot of profiles 😅 So many people use the apps now you just get used to the idea that everyone knows

Hey I think ive seen your hinge profile

Someone loaned me a copy of philip k dicks the reader last year. I already loved cyberpunk and dystopic cinema, and seeing where a lot of those plots originated and the writing style got me hooked. Ive read sooo many SF and cyberbunk novels over the last year because of it.

I hadnt read fiction for years, back in college I read will self and william burroughs, which in hindsight probably falls under the same umbrella. I didnt have an internet device back then so it was only what I found in the library and not a lot really held my attention. Glad someone who knew me said hey, youll probably like this.