Paris: Warmup

July 5, 2023

I rode around Paris today.

Around 3:00 a.m. I was awake. By about 4:15 it was apparent I was not going to sleep any more no matter how much I wanted to. I also knew that I would not be able to bring my bike onto the regional train, the RER, during commute hours, after 6:30 a.m. So I got out of bed, rode the 15 minutes to the train station, waited for the train by the light of the almost full moon, and by 6:00 a.m. I was in central Paris.

Getting onto the RER seems to always involve combat with the pay gate, because either the ones for wheelchairs are not at every location or are broken. It also strangely has no bicycle facilities or cars whatsoever, unlike most other SNCF trains. All I've been able to figure out is just being in the entryway of the train, moving back and forth away from the side that has the platform at each station.

At this hour Paris is being cleaned by a variety of garbage trucks and Street sweepers, including lots sidewalk sized street sweepers that are the cutest utility vehicles I've ever seen; I feel like one should be a protagonist in a Pixar Cars sequel set in France.

I also took my customary first pain au choc selfie on arrival, since the boulanger in Le Thillay had been closed for vacation.

First pain au Chocolat for this trip, by Gare du Nord

I then this 64 km route that crosses back over itself multiple times around downtown Paris; I bought the GPX file off of Kamoot for $3, and I think I got my money's worth.

My primary interest was seeing what Paris bicycle infrastructure looks like. In the answer is that it's pretty good, but it's not particularly relaxing. There are so many pedestrians and bicyclists and cars.

To be a bicyclist in Paris feels like to be a fish in a school, or to be a pedestrian in Hyderabad; it feels like madness at first, but then it's apparent that there are rules, and that everyone's really paying quite a lot of attention. This means that you too must pay attention. It feels somewhat different from biking at home in Oakland where I feel like I have to pay attention because a crazy driver might run a stop sign going 35 miles an hour. Paris feel safer. Drivers are pushy, but not crazy. It is also more exhausting. Everyone is going slower just because they're paranoid that they're about to run into someone. Because there are that many someones. Also because there is a lot of transit infrastructure and it's not always cleanly separated. The pedestrian ways cross the bicycle ways, and then the bicycle ways cross the car ways, and it's very hard to keep track of exactly who rightfully belongs on any particular piece of pavement.

Sidewalk, designated bikeway, designated pedestrian crossing, plus a street

It was kind of hard to tell how much of what I was seeing was newly built infrastructure under mayor Hidalgo, and what was existing. From watching this Not Just Bikes video yesterday as a sort of pre-ride briefing, I know that the huge bike lanes on Rue Du Rivoli were new, as were yellow paint markings for bicycles, usually going counter to car traffic on one-way-for-cars-streets. But it seem like the bulk of what I was seeing were lanes that were separated by cars or concrete, and looked like they had been planned pretty carefully. It was a lot of this:

In general these are really good quality; separated from traffic by a curb, and very often by parked cars as well. The good and bad thing is that there are a lot of bicyclists in Paris. And most of them are in a hurry. I did not feel like I was biking particularly slowly today, but another less it seemed like every 30 seconds there was like 25 year old guy wearing a murse but no helmet who is trying to pass me 12 inches away. The close passing is forgivable, there's just not a lot more space, but it doesn't make for a super relaxing cycling experience.

Paris also has not solved a couple of other bicycle problems that plague Oakland, the dumpster in the bike lane, and the delivery truck in the bike lane.

I did notice, however, that there are a lot of dedicated delivery spaces, that take up what would otherwise be paid parking spaces. It seems like a really good idea for the delivery people and the bike people. I suppose it's just the people who want to pay to park who keep that from happening in the United States.

The park did make an excursion into one wooded area that was more relaxing, the Bois du Bulogne.

And of course crossing Paris four times, you do see things, like the Eiffel Tower from an appropriate distance:

(I still have never been to the top, because I just can't stand waiting in the lines; I've tried twice and given up)

The Centre Georges Pompidou

And tile graffiti that I thought was maybe by Invader but is in fact by Zigom

And with that, I'm going to sign off. I should have a pretty long day tomorrow, first day of touring. Since there aren't many campsites near Paris, I'm going to first take and RER train out to Chantilly, which is such a sweet castle that France named vanilla whipped cream after it (sorry/not), and then continue to Chiry Ourscamp. Now I just have to figure out something to do to keep me awake for three hours until it's a respectable hour for a jet lagged person to fall asleep.

Today's ride: 65 km (40 miles)
Total: 65 km (40 miles)

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