Putting your bicycle to work

We are all aware of how great cycling for leisure is but for a long time now I have been using my bicycle not only as personal transport but as a tool to transport possessions and even shopping. This idea of the bicycle as a "pack horse" not just a "show pony" has been around for years, especially in eastern countries where a single bicycle carries the whole family and pets. Once I even managed to pack enough for a 2 month cycling and camping holidays on the back of my bike.

Here I also regularly take advantage of my bikes ability to carry large loads and thanks to my handy Clip on bike bag(see pic), two bungee cords which I permanently keep in a little saddle bag and my new basket which clips into the carrier I am able to easily able to transport many items at a moments notice.

Recently though I put my bike though another more taxing test by actually towing my flat mate (KK) and her bike home.
On a typical Wednesday after a few calm drinks we were both on our way home when  KK's bike chain slips off, this was not too much of a shock as it had been acting up a lot recently. However what was more annoying in this case was that the chain had some how managed to get properly wedged into the gear mechanism and it was going to require at least a screw driver to slove the problem.

However being determined to get the bicycle home to fix the problem I used my handy bunjee cords and simply clipped them on to her front basket to my carrier and started pedalling, much to the disbelief of KK.

The result was actually pretty good. Granted I was now pedaling for two people but apart from being a somewhat slower it was not an exhausting experience. The only slight problem was that since the cords were elastic they would not pull steadily but rather the sensation of pulling in waves. Retrospectivly though this probably helped the smoothness of the ride rather than it being jerky.

So if you are thinking of starting to cycle regularly I would recommend getting a bicycle that is practical for day to day life rather than just that you just use once every two weeks on a road or mountain. Hopefully the result should be that you use it far more often and are generally fitter.

Woeful Winter Weather

Ahh yes the complete 180, I certainly am feeling like God must  have read my previous post and sent freezing cold temperatures to spite me.

So after just reporting the lovely weather I had been enjoying, now it is very much different.
The freezing snow has arrived, and en force.

While I do still suffer slightly from the "aww cool snow" aspect of coming from a country with only rain, these pictures clearly demonstrate the difference between perceived winter cycling and the actual experience

a snowy winter wonderland (photo without flash)

VS
snow being whipped into your face while you try and find the route with the least dangerous snow coating

 White hell (with flash)

Beautiful Winter Weather

I haven't got a photo of the route but  this Zurich lake photo is pretty

For those of you that are unaware I have been hiding out in Zurich for the last few months. Now winter in Zurich can be a largely grey affair and apparently as soon as you leave the city region there is apparently a sudden burst of beautiful weather. However the weather of late has also been impressing be, impressing me to the point that there are times before I step outside the warm confines of my apartment that I think that I might only need to wear my lighter jacket. Nice try sunshine.

Despite the beaming sun rays a jacket is an absolute must and to be honest I nearly lost all the fingers on my right hand while trying to top up my phone and send a text message yesterday.

Again part of the nice things about my apartment (apart from having my own room and the apartment  being clean and warm) is the route that I take into town. This route along the limmat river is indeed a gem in Zurich and is much frequented by joggers and just generally people looking to take a relaxing walk. On sunny days this route is one of my favourite things about living in Zurich, or more so it was; as I recently experienced the vexation of an older lady telling me cycling along the route is forbidden. I suppose I should have copped on earlier as I very rarely meet other cyclists along the path.

I'm not sure if I'll heed her message or just keep playing the foreign ignorance card and avoiding the path at busier times.

Funny bicycle stuff from the Internet

Recently my friend Dave sent me this link to this Kate Beaton comic which lets be honest is awesome; "see me rollin up pops you step aside". I then proceeded to spend the rest of my day looking at all her other comics, which retrospectively was a well spent afternoon.
It's really interesting to see a modern take on the history of girls on bicycles and its not the first time I've talked about this, as last June in Paris I visited the "Voyages a Velo" exhibition which chronicled (all be it not as funnily) the history of the bicycle and its influence on the development of the modern woman.

Otherwise as long as we are on the topic of funny bicycle stuff I have seen or been sent on-line, check out this gem from the great David Thorne poking fun at the cycling fanatic, again potentially another day wasted, but his stuff is laugh out loud funny.

Taxi in Zurich? - some warnings

After previously praising Zurich's treatment of traffic and cyclists, it is with unfortunate irony that on this same day I received some rather rude treatment on my bike in Zurich, and got beeped at twice by Taxi drivers.

From what I have personally experienced and been advised taxi drivers here are:

Cycling in Zurich

While cycling in most other large cities is usually a mixture of teeth gritting and bell ringing frustration, Zurich seems to be a much more calm counterpoint to the usual fist shaking and shouting.

Politeness seems to be the key factor involved in getting around the City, whether that is by public transport, car, bicycle or foot.
I am consistently surprised at how polite car drivers are in Zurich, for example; very few pedestrian crossings actually have pedestrian lights. So how does it work then? Well the method is surprisingly simple, the pedestrian had automatic priority and all cars stop at zebra crossings at the slightest hint that someone might intend crossing. The result is that people crossing the road only hesitate a quick glance at oncoming traffic before marching straight out  in front of politely waiting cars.

While you would think this system would be the bane of most car drivers in Zurich it is not, the result is surprisingly stress free flowing traffic, probably because the cars don't spend their time waiting in front of red lights at pedestrian crossings where no one is crossing.

Indeed even the cars don't need lights at Zurich's most busy junction - central and use this polite waiting system to alternate between who has priority. Only at peak traffic times will you see a semi-formal traffic stopping system in place and this literally takes the form of a human Traffic Warden being stationed in what looks like an over-sized bin right in the centre of the junction.

This traffic version of an orange Oscar the Grouch is an efficient version of traffic lights as they are more accurately able to judge the needs of the waiting traffic, and appropriately assign priority.

Skyride Dublin 2011 - beware children on bicycles

Skyride Dublin at Grand Canal Square

Overall the event was enjoyable but I found myself more stressed than I would be in normal traffic. The main reason being that the streets were littered with children on bicycles, contrary to cars small children are notoriously spatially unaware, unpredictable in their movements on the road and follow a cycling pattern that could be likened to a shoal of herring being attacked by dolphins. Lucky I wasn't going anywhere fast or I'm sure I would have had the great joy of discussing bicycle safety with the parents of many crying children.

Cycling in Ireland - pack wet gear

Wet Gear. This is probably the most important set of words that you will use in reference to cycling in Ireland.
Following one random day of sunshine on my arrival there has followed the usual predictable set of squalls, showers, and looming grey clouds.
Like going to a club you know will be bad or boring, you can compensate the sheer awfulness with copious amounts of alcohol, and so it is with rain and wet gear. Especially for longer journeys, e.g.. more than 5 minutes.

Sky Ride Dublin vs Critical Mass Dublin

With Sky's tag line "where will your bike take you" the answer is pretty simple; probably along the route you have designated and cordoned off from traffic.

This is the first time that the "Sky" Ride has made it over to the Republic. Now in all due respect the concept of cycling uninhibited through the worlds major cities is not a new one but contrary to the critical mass phenomenon the idea is less "lets piss off all the people trying to just get around in cars, by having a completely unplanned event where we have no leaders, no route and will just stop traffic through sheer numbers" and more "lets sponsor the event and co-operate with the police and traffic department so that we can have the traffic diverted, streets shut down and proper safety features".

So to summarise less anarchy and more family.

Cycling in Liechtenstein

So following what can only be described as an epic set of holidays to Cadiz in Spain and then Munich, I had the fortune to be taken to yet another offbeat location that shortly after my arrival into Zurich. After less than 24hours in Zurich I was whisked away to Liechtenstein. 

its not often a country map can indicate the location of individual houses

Cycling – not quite a bus, pedestrian, motorbike or car. Not going to let that stop me.

Every ones approach to cycling is different, some people are rigid rule followers, waiting patiently at the lights while wearing a florescent yellow vest and some are speed demons with a reckless opinion of life weaving in an out of oncoming traffic on a one way street. I usually try to find a happy medium.

My least favourite though are probably the ones who just don't know any better, this is usually the panicky tourist velib’ user who is wandering around like a priest in a lingerie department (feeling very uncomfortable and not sure what to do but still enjoying the view).

Sometimes the best approach to cycling through a city is just to go at it tooth and nails, and the best thing about being on bicycle is you get to cheat at a lot of the rules cars and pedestrians have to follow. 

Now I'm not saying that cyclists don’t have to follow the law- we do, but I’m just saying that it doesn't always happen that way.......

While cycling everyone bends or breaks the rules, following some research I found this website particularly helpful in realistically identifying common types of accidents, some named:

• The Door Prize
• The Right Cross
• The Cross walk slam

and my favourite

• The Red Light of Death!

and giving you practical advice on how to avoid them. With diagram's!

Don't be scared is one of the most important things to remember. You are also a road user and have the same rights as the cars, by this justification though you should also follow the same rules as the cars and this especially means stopping at traffic lights, signalling when turning and getting into the correct lanes. Cars can't avoid you if they don't know what your doing.

So here are some simple tips on how to stay safe for the realistic cyclist:

• Don't be scared
• Stop at lights
• Signal with your hands
• Get in lane
• Don’t listen to music
• Have and use your bell
• Be visible at night
• Try not to mount the footpath
• Dismount your bicycle when on a busy footpath
• Be patient
• Feel free to take up the entire lane- lane control position
• Pull right in front of cars at traffic lights- avoid their blind spots
• Assert your rights as a road user, but
• Don't be arrogant of your rights, bend the rules within the reason of safety and never expect a car to slow down for you.

Being patient is also a very important part of getting around Paris, and by this I don't mean just waiting at the lights, one thing to remember is that everyone is a road user including pedestrians, and Paris is a city with a population of over 2 million people and that's not even counting the tourists and suburban dwellers(9 million-ish). 
So showing these people the same respect that you hope they would show you if you were the one crossing the road is essential, and if you do decide to mount the footpath, try and looks sheepish and apologise to any pedestrians you might nearly bump into – remember you are in the wrong.

Maybe cars might find you a little annoying when you're first discovering the best way to cycle to work, but even if they do beep at you, apart from the shock factor a beep never injured anyone, and at least that means they see you.

By that same justification a signal such as giving the beeping car in question a certain hand gesture might be an appropriate way of indicating your acknowledgement of their dissatisfaction with you bicycle skills.

Critical Mass Paris - a cycling phenomenon

So after having witnessed an incredibly large gathering of roller bladers in Paris I asked myself could it be possible that cyclists do the same thing? 

After some research, which lets be honest is a little more difficult when your trying to transcend the language barrier, I found out the following.

There is an international movement called “critical mass” this movement is basically a big get together of 100 to 60,000 cyclists going for a group cycle. These events are generally loose in their organisation and lack the kind of leadership that would make it an official organisation or protest. The benefit of the event is a car free cycle through your respective city with many of your fellow cyclists, while making a clear statement about the importance and benefits of cycling. The cars aren't formally blocked but muscled out of the way by the sheer numbers of bicycles. The lack of clear and formal organisation is mainly due to people avoiding legal issues and responsibilities.

rahhh - photo not actually in Paris

The difficult thing for English speaking people researching this movement in Paris though is that its not called critical mass, its called “Velorution” and the website seems to currently be under construction because I am currently having problems accessing any specific information from it. Again though this could be due to the fact that it tries to keep a low profile on its events for legal reasons.

However I have managed to ascertain the following information from another website which has the most comprehensive list of meetings I have managed to find to date, and the good news is that YES Paris does have a monthly meeting!

Rides are held on the first Saturday of every month at Place de la Bastille at 2pm.

Being on holidays for the next month means that I wont be able to attend the meeting for August, but to be honest I’d expect that meeting to be pretty calm seeing as most Parisians will be on holidays. 

However if you are interesting a great first hand account there is a great article about it here from another girl who seems to be quite like me.

The Tour De France 2011

Okay lets be honest here, I in previous years have always thought the Tour de France was about as interesting as a trip to the Post Museum, I was once again proved wrong and had my interest re sparked when I saw the tour going over the Pont St Nazarre. I became interested, mainly due to the fact that I also have cycled over this huge bridge, which happened to be one of the most amazing, but scary experiences of my cycle holiday in 2009. Following this stage I have been catching up with the Tour de France nearly everyday.

Now don’t think that I’m a hard core cyclist or fan of this sport, as far as I'm concerned the Tour is a thinly veiled international advertisement for the tourism industry of France, with the overhead helicopter hovering for minutes over every slightly significant town church, modern building of note, waterfall, cliff, mountain or even a pack of vultures. These important parts of the cycling competition are even sometimes accompanied by music. To be honest I actually enjoy these little Architectural detours into the sights of provincial French life and it does entice me to perhaps visit these regions. The one thing however that might be a big negative factor to the appeal to these regions are the people, once again the only thing letting the French down are the French themselves. 

Stepping right out onto the road, waving flags in the cyclists faces, taking their shirts off to swing them around,  and even on some of the uphill climbs running along the cyclists while shouting “encouragements” at them. Or even all of the above. All this is the typical behaviour of the average French cycling fan hungry for their 2 seconds of fame. Seriously the competition seems physically hard enough with out having to over come the mental challenge of resisting  the temptation of swinging your fist at a couple of these idiots.

While there have been many an annoying spectator nothing has been more dangerous this year than the media cars that are supposed to be reporting on the tour, who have twice crashed into the cyclists. Resulting in severe physical injury's.

This is unfortunately the second time this level of un-professionalism has been on display from the Media in this years Tour. With over 170 vehicles allowed to drive with the cyclists a greater level of caution and maybe a reduction in the amount of cars should be considered.

Unfortunately this year my impending holidays mean I wont be able to watch the competition finishing up on the Champs Elysée in Paris on the 24th of July and get my own 2 seconds of fame.

"Paris Respire" taking a break from traffic

Working weekend nights has its disadvantages, one of which is not being able to get up early, many is the day where I have viewed and enjoyed the sunshine from the comfort of my bed. However it is not impossible, so following a series of missed weekend days I decided to get out of bed earlier than planned and do something with my day.

One thing I have been meaning to do on a Sunday afternoon is go for a cycle along the Seine, of course you can cycle at any time along the seine, but on a Sunday Paris implements a scheme called “paris respire” this scheme is actually very success full and popular and allows many family's to go out and enjoy a car free Paris. of course the scheme is not in operation in all of Paris, but it is in operation in some of the nicest areas.

I don't know all the locations but here are a few that I am familiar with

• The Seine
• Montmartre
• Canal St Martin
• The Marais.

The officialwebsite is difficult to navigate but it has an interactive map with the zones indicated as well as options on the left for close up maps of the individual areas such as Montmartre. However I personally find that the best thing to do is have a look at the signs posted in the areas, but since I'm nice ill post a few maps of my favourite cycling areas that I managed to track down.

the Canal

The Seine

Having arranged to meet any friends that were interested, I headed down to the Quai de la Rapée. At the achievable hour of 3pm,  Being somewhat early had its benefits and while waiting a group of about 2000 roller bladers passed by, and left me wondering if there are any similar events for bicycles?

rollerbladers

The Weather was fantastic and while it was great to be out enjoying it, we were not the only ones who had a similar idea, and the quays along the seine were chocker block with families walking, roller blading and lounging around.

We enjoyed cruising up and down the seine several times, worth a special mention is the segment of the scheme that runs through the tunnel, the experience of visiting the tunnel with out being in a car is quite surreal, also the best thing about the tunnel is that since its dark most of the pedestrians seem to stay out, which allows you to speed up and stretch your legs while cycling. 

Emma

This was a great experience for my friends who had not done much cycling in Paris and especially around main traffic, however a close brush with a zig zagging 5 year old left me thinking maybe traffic is not that bad.

Playing Petanque at the Bassin de la Villette

Why is it when Irish people go anywhere on holiday it rains? 

This stereotype has never been more clearly demonstrated than by my friends recent visit to Paris. one month earlier we had been basking in glorious sunshine and 30 degree heat and next thing you know Irish people arrive and we get rain, clouds and a temperature maximum of 18 degrees.

Anyway after the lamented departure of my Irish compatriots a mandatory heatwave ensued. what to do during the hot weather in Paris is always a difficult question, considering Paris has a complete lack of coast line (a la Dublin) or complete lack of swimmable rivers and lakes (a la Zurich).

Of course the city's way of compensating for this is with the “Paris Plage” this phenomenon is when they shut down some of the streets around the Seine and turn them into “beaches”. A lot of people are quick to criticise these spaces and while they are far from the real thing they do allow people such as myself to don a bikini and douse myself with ice cold water every 20 minutes right in the centre of Paris. 

Nothing seems stranger than sunbathing in said bikini while 200 tourist walk past on the bridge above you on the way to Notre Dame, but having frequented Paris Plage previously in 2008, trust me the break from the heat is a welcome relief.

the grass and deck beaches mean no sand in your swimsuit

However seeing as this year Paris Plage only starts on the 20th of July an alternative has to found, and considering the only thing your likly to enjoy along the seine at the moment is a mouth full of car and tour boat exhaust fumes, the Bassin de la Villette in the 19th seemed like a suitable waterside solution. Cycling along one of my favourite routes by the Canal I once again enjoyed seeing people out enjoying the hot weather, even if it was a little quieter seeing as it was an ordinary working day and the extreme heat was forcing people to stay out of the direct heat.

Having so few people about though was a bonus and upon arriving to the canal I managed to find a perfect spot by the waterside, but with lovely tree casting a shadow onto the ground nearby.

After spreading out my picnic blanket and pillow people slowly started arriving. While the aim of the day had been to play petanque (see my version of rules below), chilling out and chatting seemed higher on the agenda. While we did have one or two games we only ever played to first to 5 instead of the traditional 13. We even managed to get our photo taken for the local website (bottom right), in an article about the heat wave.

our picture from the article

With the sun still beating down and shadows on the south side of the canal becoming more and more scarce we switched sides before hunger finally drove us home. Seeing as it was now quite late in the evening, the canal had completely changed from a meagre scattering of sunbathers earlier in the day, to crowded and busy, with brasseries and cafés in full swing.

Over all a good day and some nice cycling. Also I was very grateful to have my saddlebag with me so I could put the game of boules on my bike, because an 8 ball set is quite heavy.

For those of you not familiar with petanque here is a quick summary the rules I know.

1.    Each person gets 2 balls or “boules”
2.    Someone throws the small ball called the “le cochonnet” or jack
3.    Everyone takes turns to throw 1 of their balls closest to the jack
4.    The furthest person away goes first in the second round of ball throwing , followed by the next furthest ect.
5.    The person with their ball closest gets one point
6.    If the same person owns the 2 closest balls they get 2 points
7.    This traditionally continues until someone reaches 13, or what ever number everyone agrees on, as people get bored easily
 

Apparently you can play in teams ect, but not too sure about that. I do know that if you are only 2 people you can split the balls evenly getting 3-4 balls each, which means the points go up faster and the game is shorter.

A Ride through Cycling History

Postponing this exhibition until my fellow bicycle fanatic friend Helen arrived, I was not disappointed.

This exhibition called Voyages a Vélo, is located in the heart of the Marais and is not very obvious to the public being located up a small side street in a generally unremarkable building.

After a quick snack of excellent falafel and a coffee, we felt the time was right to go for a spin into check out these bicycles. The exhibition costs €3-€6, and after asking for the “tariff reduit” we quickly viewed the small section upstairs before making our way down to the main exhibition space downstairs.

I took one photo without any flash before being told that all photography was forbidden. However you can still take more in secret without the flash as there are not too many security people.

The exhibition chronicles the development of the bicycle through time, and starts out appropriately enough with the “hobby horse” style bicycle before starting to explain the popularity of this type of transport as well as its development. While the exhibition is all in French some of the funniest parts were the posters and articles in English from England which clearly demonstrates the type of stuffy upper middle class people that would have been able to afford a bicycle at the time.

The exhibition is overall interesting enough and has a great selection of bicycles as well as bicycle paraphernalia from different eras. Having read up a little on the history of the bicycle before going I especially enjoyed seeing the development of ladies and cycling. Originally the ladies bicycle was a giant cumbersome beast of a contraption kinda like a giant 3 wheeled tricycle, the ladies eventually  saw how pointless these were and instead of developing the bicycle decided to develop their clothing to be more suited to riding “men's” bicycles. Hence ladies trousers or “bloomers” were born and women started to develop “rational dress” . All joking aside the bicycle was credited to have greatly effected the women's rights movement and this can clearly be seen in the fact that most of the posters in the exhibition have a woman in the foreground. Including the poster for the exhibition itself.

What was also really impressive to see was how organised cyclists were back then and you could view old cycle lane maps for around the greater Paris area as well as leaflets telling you how to defend your rights on the road as a cyclist.

Overall the exhibition takes a look at the development of bicycles and bicycles as a hobby and I really enjoyed it. The Exhibition also has a great book that accompanies it but it sadly costs €20 and is only in French. If you have any interest in bicycles get on your bicycle and head over to this before it ends. Ironically though its central location on a small street in the Marais means that bicycle parking is not easily available and you will have to walk a bit to get there.

Park Life - La Villette

One of cycling in Paris's most hidden gems is definitely the canal, this Thursday being a public holiday and also one of the most beautiful days so far this year, I had the luck to be invited up to Parc de la Villette in the 19th for a general hang out in the sun.

So in order to benefit of this fantastic day I had completely off work I headed off. 

The trip to the park was nearly as nice as the park itself. The canal is one of Paris's most underrated public spaces and feels like an authentic slice of parisian life as there are hundreds of people sitting by the canal chatting or playing games and not a tourist to be seen. There are also lots of great little bars and bistros that line the canal and these were full of people, the most popular with a queue to buy drinks a snacks for the all the people sitting out along the canal.

Another great thing about cycling along the canal is the dedicated bicycle lanes, so apart from a few large junctions you wont have to even think about where you going or watch the traffic, you just simply go with the flow. Here is the route I followed.

One thing most new people to Paris don’t realise is the value and importance of these public parks and spaces in Paris. While for example everyone in Ireland strives to have a semi-detached house with a front and back garden, parking place and 2 hour commute to work, the approach here in Paris is different. Space is at a premium and living within the Peripherique is seen as a lucky privilege that you will sacrifice a lot for including

• A significant percentage of your wage,
• the option of not having more than 3 people(including yourself) visiting in your 10sqm “chambre de bonne”
• standing room in your sleeping area
• cooking facilities
• a toilet in your apartment,
• a washing machine
• your own room
• sleeping in the living room
• any options of having pets larger than a gerbil,

while to a lot of my Irish friends might seem horrified at the thought of the circumstances mentioned above, most of my Parisian friends will sympathise that these are some or all the things that you will compromise on in order to benefit of the glory of living in a city where real-estate is counted in meters squared and not how many bedrooms.

So while people do sacrifice allot in terms of their living standards this is compensated for by the fact that we live in Paris, one of the greatest city's in the world, and since the option of comfortably accommodating friends in your living quarters is often not an option this is why things like, meeting a friend for a coffee during the day, going for a quiet demi in the evening and meeting friends far a picnic in a park is so popular in Paris.

Essentially

• The restaurant is your kitchen and dining room
• The café's and bars are your living room
• The public park is your back garden
• Your apartment is your bedroom

Parks in Paris act like everyone's shared back gardens, on a sunny day you will see literally hundreds of people of all different ages, races, social classes and  occupations appearing in their droves to benefit or some sunshine and open space. Where as parks and playgrounds in Ireland can be a realm left to mainly bums and drunken teenagers, in Paris they become very much a family affair with lots of children actually playing in them, teenagers and adults practising their dancing, fitness enthusiasts doing yoga and capoera, people juggling,  musicians strumming guitars, people reading and sunbathing  and friends picnicking. 

photo was taken when leaving around 9 so many people had left

Parc de la Villette was very busy when I arrived but still had acres of space compared to the nearly shoulder to shoulder experience you can get in some other parks. It is a great park mainly due it its large size and variety of spaces, also it seemed to be lacking many of the unsavoury characters which are usually present in more central parks and spaces that are more frequented by RER lines and tourists.

If you are living or even just visiting Paris I would recommend taking some time out and check out the canal for a walk and lunch and then go for a relax in the park de la Villette or one of Paris's many other parks. With the weather only set to improve it is definitely time to get your picnic blanket washed, buy a set of plastic dish ware and “en profitez”.

Cycling for exercise and weight loss, as oppose to getting around.

While I cycle for pleasure, speed, freedom and economic reasons there are many people who use cycling as a form of official exercise for health and weight loss. So while I might not be a fitness trainer here is some basic information that I have been able to research about the benefits of cycling, using myself as the example I have calculated:

• 30 min cycle at 12-14 mph the result is 230 calories burned, compared to
• 30 min walking at 3mph the result is 115.
• 30 min running at 8mph the result is 355
• 30 min running at 6mph the result is 264
• 30min metro ride where you spend 3 minutes using the stairs the result is 21

So the winner is clearly running fast. How ever I really don’t enjoy running and as one website recommends its better to take up a kind of exercise you will enjoy, otherwise you just wont stick to it. 

here is a handy chart, just to compare

The results are also pretty interesting as I was always under the impression that cycling burned less calories than walking, but the one flaw in the calculation system is that it is probably only calculated with consistent cycling at consistent speeds. Not stopping and restarting at lights or slowly weaving in and out of traffic. how ever what will definitely lower the calorie loss is free-wheeling. For those of you that are not familiar with the term free-wheeling is when you stop pedalling on the downhill slopes, essentially just sitting on your ass and letting gravity do the hard work. When you walk you cant free-wheel, so the method of calculating calories for cycling becomes more difficult.

One thing that all the websites seem in agreement about though is the benefits of increasing your heart rate, cycling certain routes that are more strenuous i.e. uphill will be better for both your heart and your calorie count. On this particular note, let me recommend a few good routes that I enjoy in Paris.

My favourite climb is Rue St Jacques, its a steep climb and I do it quite often as one of my  favourite bars is located at the top. 

I used to find it quite difficult when I started cycling, but since my fitness levels have increased I push myself to go faster and faster up the slope and the enjoy the feeling of my heart pounding on arrival for my well deserved drink. 

my place to wos bar

Otherwise my old route home from work is also a nice gentle slope uphill on the boulevard Magenta and Sebastopol. But this route is not very enjoyable due to the many traffic lights and pedestrians who walk onto the bicycle lane, especially on Boulevard Magenta. Otherwise you could always try and brave the hill to the Rue Mouffetard.

To try and calculate the distances you are travelling I would recommend using google maps, and using the directions function in walking mode. This can be very handy if you want to see how far you are travelling on a regular route you use, for example you commute to work.

Here for example is my route to work.

This is my route home

Looking at this you can see that I only travel a modest 5.6km total to and from work. This is not a lot and to be honest only equals about 15-20min on the bike, or like less than 200 calories.

The important thing about losing weight though is that you still need to consume less calories than you are expending, so the age old excuse of "I’ve cycled a lot today I can treat myself to an extra éclair" at dessert is not going to fly. 
Also muscle weighs more than fat, so while you might think that you are not losing any technical weight your body is becoming fitter, more toned and using the calories that you consume more efficiently.

Cycling in spring? Wear eye proction

Seriously people, as much as I have been enjoying the vastly improving weather, leaves on trees and eating on the terrace there is one thing in particular that I have not been enjoying.....

These things.

Here is close of of what looks like a killer flower, fly fishing, stinger, hook or something. Seriously the though of getting this in my eye let alone my hair makes me physically wince. But behold, these things are bloody well carpeting the streets.

all that yellow stuff is millions of those flowers

Trust me there is nothing worse than following a bus and getting a whirlwind of these things swirling up into your face.

While recently enjoying a cycle along the Seine I was cycling against the wind and happened to get some of the little feathery bits in my eye. Ouch, I spent a good 5 minutes rubbing and holding my eyelid open while blinking to no avail. My only option was to soldier on through the irritating agony and the rose tinted blinking of my actually bleeding eye!

Bring on winter when at least the things that hit you in the face melt or dry off. So here is my advice get some good wrap around sun glasses or false camel style eye lashes cause these things are going to be here for another few weeks anyway.

Cycling by the Seine

Museum of the day was the Museum des Arts Asiatiques –Guimet, this museum is located in the 16th, just a little bit down the road from Palais de Tokyo. I took the same cycling route as the time I had visited the Musée d’Armée, down along to Bastille and across the Pont de Sully to the south side of the Seine before just following the combined bus and bike lane west.

This route while enjoyable for me, it is not for the faint hearted, it involves a combination of wonderful dedicated bike lanes along tree lined avenues and fighting tooth and nail with bumper to bumper traffic, while travelling at speed.

nice bike lanes

One tip, don’t hesitate. There are a number of on and off ramps and bridges along the south bank of the Seine and these can result in you being cut off mid cycle, if you don’t just go for it you will end up looking like a two wheeled deer caught in the headlights.

Another thing I remarked upon on my way to the museum was this:

That's right a Segway tour of Paris. Hmm before passing too much judgement on this concept I decided to look up this tours website to get a little more info, well to be honest more so the price of the tour. The result is barely any info on their website, no prices, duration, frequency or routes. Guess this is all something they do by phone. After reading some of the many, granted positive reviews of these types of trips on line and some more in depth research into price(starting from €85), I still remain largely unconvinced. Most of the people I saw on the tour seemed to be spending most of their time looking at their Segway rather than taking in the sights and to top it off the slow group were blocking up one of the nicest stretches of cycle lane I had been on. Maybe that is the main reason I have not taken to the idea. If you want to stand up and sight see, walk. 

Without continuing too much on this tangent I’ll reserve further judgement until I decide to blow the whopping €85 euro on a four hour segway tour.

After finally arriving to the Museum, I cruised in with the now usual no queue, no cost routine. 

Note ably on entry there was a large pink replica of the Taj Mahall occupying the first and principal exhibition space. I quite enjoyed the spectacle actually, as the contrasting colour was quite striking. 

As for the rest of the museum I must confess the content was not so much of interest, mainly due to the fact that I have little or no knowledge of Asian art and religions (most of the information I have gleaned through the years has been from Apu from the Simpsons). I sped through most of the exhibits, sometimes pausing to read from the hand-held info boards that were located by most of the entry points.

There were a great many statues and sculptures, mostly grey and lacking any kind of accompanying information. 

this one should work the cafe oz weekend shifts

 How every things did perk up temporarily, when I passed though into the Japanese section where there was some lovely screens and art, as well as more Ming Dynasty Crockery than you could shake a baseball bat at.

While the overall exhibition was not to my taste I would recommend going with a friend(possibly Asian) who has some knowledge and interests in these things and can help promote some enthusiasm about the history of one of the greatest civilisations in the World. 

However what I did thoroughly enjoy was the Architecture, the building was amazing with an interesting sequence of architectural spaces that circulated around the large central exhibition space and eventually leading you back to the Stairwell that would bring you to the next level of exhibits. The building also very elegantly used discrete materials that were very well detailed so as not to dominated the often grey or monotone items it exhibited.

beautiful circular bordmarked marked concrete pillars

 While the visit was enjoyable, I would recommend having an interest in either Asia or Architecture before going.