the essential
As part of the Olympic year, the French Cycling Federation (Ffvélo) organized a major national event on the weekend of June 1 and 2.
The French Federation of Cycle Tourism (Ffvélo) organized a major national event “Together by bike”, the aim of which was to bring together as many cycle tourists as possible in Paris over the weekend of June 1 and 2, 2024.
Traditionally this type of itinerant trip (VI) was carried out every 4 years by female graduates. But for this Olympic year, the Ffvélo also wanted to open it to men’s licensees.
To do this, regional and departmental committees, clubs and licensees affiliated with the federation could set up itinerant trips from their regions to reach the capital by bike.
The Gers Departmental Cycle Tourism Committee (CoDep 32) has therefore decided, in the fall of 2023, to offer Gers license holders the opportunity to participate in this great adventure.
From that moment on, the commission in charge of this VI created the routes, organized the picnics, accommodation and logistics.
To offer the widest possible opportunity for everyone to participate, it was decided to advance with the logistics vehicles to Argenton-sur-Creuse, to then reach Paris by bike in 5 stages.
So 30 cyclists (21 from Gers; 6 from Hautes-Pyrénées and 3 from Indre) took to the roads on Tuesday, May 28 in the morning, in the direction of Vincennes. Five stages which totaled around 500 km, fortunately with relatively mild weather, despite a few showers and a storm.
With picnics provided by the logistics team of the CoDep 32 organization and accommodation reserved, participants could take full advantage of the routes, on which several points of tourist interest are located: the village of St Valentin, the Château de la Ferté St Aubin, the village of Claude François (Danemois), the Château de Fontainebleau, the Fort de Vincennes… And the icing on the cake, CoDep 32 offered them a “city tour” by bus in Paris.
In addition, club members from the towns we passed through came to meet us and/or guided us to join or leave certain towns. Which all the cyclists greatly appreciated.
Finally, to end this journey, the Ffvélo organized a big parade, which brought together 5,000 cyclists from all over Paris, passing as close as possible to the major monuments of the capital.
All this in the greatest security, since volunteers from the Federation, helped by the police and motorcyclists, ensured good traffic without risk.
This VI was for some a first experience of this type of travel by bike. Enthusiastic by the atmosphere, the discovery, they are ready to start again.
