Today was great fun but destined to be a day where not much progress was made.
Last night, the weather forecast was for some cold weather followed by some cold and wet weather, so I tried to think of another route option that served everyone’s purposes without a great option popping out.
Today is the first day of my ride with Dennis, whom I’ve known for a few years and rode with in 2020 and 2021. He’s an hilarious blogger and his blog is here https://www.cycleblaze.com/journals/2goodblokes/
He arrived in Paris yesterday and had some trouble with his tubeless tyres after deflating them for the flight. (That’s something the airlines insist on but has been proven to be a waste of time).
I arranged to meet Dennis at the RER station outside Jardin de Luxembourg and he was bang on time. We rode up past the Pantheon and had a coffee in the square, before going back to Marialaura’s place to plan the day.
We decided that the original plan was best but we’d take a train out of Paris and get going. Melun was the pick and we agreed on a short ride from there to Fontainebleau to get the trip going.
Then the fun started – I got us lost on the small trip to Gare de Lyon but food and coffee fixed that and we were soon on the hunt for a Sim card for Dennis. We found the Orange shop but they took an hour to serve him and sort out his phone. It wasn’t exactly exemplary service – far from it.
Then we went to the train station. We tried to buy tickets to Melun but we were using the wrong ticket machines. It took a while to work it out, then we found the correct ones and got the tickets. When we boarded the train, there was a guy standing in the bike storage area speaking really loudly … to nobody. That was a bit strange, but we put out bikes in the right place anyway. We hung around because we didnt want to leave them. Then another guy joined him. I thought the first guy was loud, but this guy had swallowed a megaphone. He was amazingly annoying in a fairly small space. It got so bad that I finally lost it and started yelling as loud as him. Immediately, the guy wanted to punch me, but his friend calmed him down and moved him away. They were definitely on something.
We decided to retreat to another carriage at the opposite end of the train.
The train ride was quick and before we knew it, we were in Melun. Dennis’ tyres had deflated a little, so we went to another bike shop for some advice. They guy pumped them up and you could hear the air hissing out of the rear tyre. Finally, it seemed to seal and we got underway again … For possibly 50 metres.
Then his front tyre blew off the rim with a bang louder than a gunshot. People came out of their houses to see what had happened. Luckily, the bike shop was just there and a new tube for one wheel and more sealant for the other, fixed the issue before we headed off again. What little faith I had in tubeless tyres disappeared with the bang.
It was only 24kms but didn’t make it much before 6;30pm. The ride was nice, with some amazing houses along the way. After a day like today, I was simply glad to get there.
Turns out Fontainbleau is great. The Chateau is massive and beautiful and there are a number of squares with restaurants and pubs and plenty of people around.
Our accommodation on the other hand was hopeless. The heating wasn’t working so that meant cold showers – a character building experience, but when the outside temp is single digits, it’s also painful.
To their credit, the owners came around at 9:30 and fixed it, so the night wasn’t freezing and a good sleep was had.