June 28, 2019
Paris to the Airport
Yesterday morning I’d searched online for a cycling route from Paris to Charles de Gaulle Airport. More specifically, for a gpx track I could download. No luck. I’d need to create one myself.
I hadn’t done this before because it’s only very recently that Garmin Connect gave users the ability to upload a course wirelessly from a phone to a Bluetooth-connected device—and I didn’t know about this before I left home. Previously, you needed to connect to a computer with a USB cable. I’m including the following description so I can remember how and in case anyone else wants to know.
I created a course in RideWithGPS on my iPad Mini (my phone screen is really too small) by choosing a start point near the hostel and the end point near my airport hotel. I let RWGPS set the route. Having saved it, I opened RWGPS on my phone, selected this route, and, under “more”, chose "export as gpx". I clicked on "Download gpx file" which brought me to a screen where I could open it in [Garmin] Connect. With my Garmin device on and connected to the phone, it was possible to sync this course to the device. Then I could load it and follow its navigation.
The course RWGPS created was pretty good. It followed bike routes or quiet streets and highways all the way to Roissy-en-France, with the only nasty (high-speed, narrow) bits right at the end, probably because my hotel, the Holiday Inn Express, is adjacent to a long-term parking lot rather than in the village or in the airport itself.
| Heart | 0 | Comment | 0 | Link |
| Heart | 0 | Comment | 0 | Link |
In fact, its location is the only negative about the hotel. It’s easy to get to and from the airport on the free CDGVAL rail shuttle, but it’s essentially in the middle of nowhere. There are a couple of other hotels and the building housing the Police Nationale in the vicinity, but that’s it. Nowhere to eat other than the hotel restaurant (breakfast is included with your room, dinner is a 25€ buffet, lunch is vending-machine fare) but, since it’s a very new building, the AC works very well. And today that was a significant consideration.
The staff are also a plus. When I asked where I could disassemble and pack my bike, I was directed to the far end of the lobby. Indoors, cool, solid flooring to easily find dropped hardware, adjacent washroom. Perfect! I also asked if there was a hose I could use, and was taken around to the loading area at the back. The hose was very effective! (I didn’t notice at the time, but I’m writing this at home after reassembly and even the insides of the fenders were quite clean.)
My room was ready when I’d finished so I took my vending machine lunch up there and chilled for a while before heading over to the airport to work out where I needed to go tomorrow morning. I’d thought about taking the bus into Roissy village, but it was just too hot. I hid out in my nicely air-conditioned room until the hotel restaurant opened for dinner, which I ended up eating with a friendly French-Australian woman I’d met in the lobby this morning. We chatted for a couple of hours but never exchanged names!
Early to bed for an early start tomorrow.
Today's ride: 23 km (14 miles)
Total: 3,241 km (2,013 miles)
| Rate this entry's writing | Heart | 2 |
| Comment on this entry | Comment | 0 |