I am very much interested in either the day or even trips (I%26#39;m too cheap to do the Segway when my own legs should work just fine - I%26#39;d rather save the money for shopping and sweets %26lt;g%26gt;).
I am in pretty good shape, but my mother - hmmm, well she is 62 as I am fond of reminding her! I need to know how much exercise is actually involved. Is it a lot of start and stop or just plain going all the time - uk! Also do we hit the hills or is it relatively easy landscape?
Should we do day or night - any recommendations? I haven%26#39;t been to France since I was 10 so should we do day and get the lay of the land or night and see the whole city of lights thing?
Thanks for all your help. We%26#39;re off to London and Wales tomorrow night
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I got on a bike for the first time in 20 years about a month prior to my Fat Tire Bike Tour. I%26#39;m not in the best of shape and I managed the evening tour just fine. There was only one hill on the evening tour....up the ramp from the boat ride. Otherwise there was a few starts and stops as you have to wait for traffic a bit. Since there was a lot of us on the tour we were able to take up a whole lane of traffic once we got going. We biked the streets of Paris and besides a few bumps on the cobbles it was an easy ride. There is someone designated as the %26quot;last person%26quot; to make sure that no one gets left behind. We had a lot of fun on the night tour. I would not hesitate to take a Fat Tire tour again.
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I did the evening and the Versailles tour this past August. I had never contemplated doing such a tour, I am not a biker, but, I took a friend and she very much wanted to do it, plus she said she%26#39;d treat!!
We did the evening tour and I LOVED it, the bikes are super comfy( big padded seats , important for going over cobble stones, LOL) and the tires are fat( hence the name I guess) so very steady ride. It was a bit intimadating at first,, riding in Paris traffic seems so scary, but, they had serveral guides who led, brought up the rear and rode with the %26quot; pack%26quot; so we felt pretty comfortable after the first 15 minutes. You ride in a %26quot; pack%26quot; at a reasonable pace( anyone could keep up, not fast) so the theory is a car wouldn%26#39;t dare ram into the %26quot; pack%26quot; L:OL seemed to work very well. The longest ride was about 20 minutes, the rest of the time it would be ride ten minutes or so, stop while they tell you something about a site , ride again. We also stopped for an %26quot; ice cream %26quot; break for about 15 minutes. Plus you do a boat ride for about 1 hour, so you are not biking for the four hour tour at all! I am 45 and not great shape and I managed fine, attitude is everything , and I am sure your mom could manage it. We loved it so much we did the Versailles tour the next day, that was a lot more biking, but managable, but more hills etc , so I would most likely not recommend that for your mom. There were more families( kids starting around age 10 or so) so it wasn%26#39;t crazy, but some of the moms were huffing a puffing a bit, kids were fine.
The Paris ride is almost completely flat.
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Thanks! This was a lot of help, we%26#39;re really looking forward to it!!! Leaving for London tonight, Paris next week :-)
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We did the night time bike tour in June. It was a blast, especially since the tour guide was from our home state! The only thing that made me a little nervous was riding between cars and buses when it was a tight squeeze. I think we left a little late and had to make the boat launch, therefore we were really rushing and riding fast. My favorite moment was riding INTO the Louve courtyard and circling the fountain! We had been in Paris only hours and this was my intro to the Louvre. Unforgettable!
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Good price, comfy bikes, friendly and funny guides, wonderful routes. I took the trip from Paris to Versailles. One of the best trips I had !!!
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Hi queenices, can you give a bit more detail about the ride to Versailles--how long it took you, how expensive it was, how interesting the guides were, what you thought about how much time you had at Versailles? Thinking about doing this, but not sure about doing it with the group. . . Thanks!
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Hi Vancouver, I know I replied to your PM , but I thought I would mention that you really need to go on the site%26quot; Fat Tires Bike Tours%26quot; so you can get the prices, and the days they do Versailles( not every day,, no go mon or tues, can%26#39;t recall)
For price comparision add train ticket ( find out if bikes cost anything extra I have no idea) plus fee for Versailles and audio guide. Versailles also has a web site, in english , so google that also.
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Thanks, Joan1. I%26#39;ll look there. I wrote the same question here because I had assumed that your PM reply to my question would show up in my own email inbox and nothing has--where should I be looking for what you emailed me? thanks!
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