madder than a box of frogs...

[moon]

ok, so it IS a box of frogs...

12h00 was the rendez vous, for the ride to paris. As usual with the french, the organisation was crap. They'd planned for about 20 bikes from the region & we were 45 just from Auxerre (yeah the sun was out!). A meeting point on the autoroute was designated to meet up with the group from Sens. I was stunned when I asked about petrol! they'd planned the meet up on an aire d'autoroute WITH NO PETROL! the area contingent turned out to be over 100 bikes (planned for 40) & the ride to paris is about 170km, add to that the rides planned around Paris & there were going to be fuel problems... of which more later.

12h00, Rendez-vous Auxerre:

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I apologise for the crap picture quality, I was using N°1 daughters camera, mine still not having been replaced.

We had our own pet gendarme to bring up the rear

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depart @ 12h30 to meet the group from Sens at the aire de Laroche, 80 odd k plus loin.


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By the time everybody had arrived we were almost 100 bikes (I think actually 93) which was going to be a nightmare to keep together over another 100k, le péage & 1/2 way round the peripherique...

It was! & it didn't work cos nobody (the organisers included) actually did what they said they were going to do

we nonetheless arrived at the main rendez-vous (bloody good job I'd asked where it was before leaving auxerre) & found a HUGE number of bikes, the noise was incredible!

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Resized to 88% (was 800 x 600) - Click image to enlarge



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I would estimate the number of bikes to be about 2000, but I'll wait & see what the official statistics say.

The meet was in the garden of the Chateau de Vincennes, (14th century, built by Charles V mostly)


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the youngster bottom right in the above pic had a wee 125 race replica that he had to hit with a hammer to start... he'll go far!

needless to say, when this lot wound it up & hit the streets of paris, from the chateau de Vincennes to the Boulevard Peripherique & once around the 'periph to boot, it screwed up the whole place for a couple of hours.

In the streets of Paris:



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Resized to 88% (was 800 x 600) - Click image to enlarge

(here I was trying to get a pic of the bling on a pair of goldwings, you can just pick out the blue led's...


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I'd actually stopped here cos I'd run out of petrol (or very nearly) as I had forseen at the start. once the cortege had passed, I was able to cross the street to the petrol station opposite. By the time I'd fuelled upthe cortege was on the peripherique. I tried to catch them up but the police had blocked the road behind them & wouldn't let anybody past. I sat there for 5 minutes, then the police mainained a rolling road block, still allowing no one past, so as I couldn't join the main group I lobbed my molotov cocktails at the police vans blocking the road.




















ok, that's not strictly true...

I actually took the exit at Porte d'Italy & came home

Nice ride out, about 370km's in all. The transalp impressed me again, its now 19 years old, has 101,000km's on the clock & yet it ran me to Paris at 140kmh, round paris in apalling conditions with the cooling fan going continually & then another autoroute trip home & it never missed a beat!

[Whealie]

Was it a protest rally or just for fun?

[Alba]

2000 bikers

[Lulu]

Great write up Moon, and interesting to see the pictures. The peripherique must have been mad .



And looks like the road surfaces in Paris are no better than those in London .

[davsato]

it didn't work cos nobody (the organisers included) actually did what they said they were going to do

that because they didnt have an englishman to think of everything and plan it out properly, not that they would listen to one anyway........



looked like fun, was there a point to it or just a jolly? well let me rephrase that, you dont need a point to ride your bike, obviously. but was it a protest ride or something?

can i use this thread to encourage everyone who can to go on these protest rides to try and make it? either kill spills, parking, petrol, roadtax hikes, whatever it is, in whatever city. the protest ride is hilarious fun, usually supported (and quietly encouraged) by the police. well, maybe not in north wales, but the met riders who sorted out the junctions on the first BMF protest ride from wembley stadium to the cenotaph had a great time and told us to ignore all traffic lights and road signs.

[boboneleg]

Nice one Chris

[moon]

the point of the demo was that the gouvernment are proposing to:
a) ban lane splitting / filtering (at the moment its "tolerated")
b) ban parking on pavements (no matter how wide)
c) introduce mot's for bikes (official french figures suggest that in motorcycle accidents, mechanical failure is the cause in less than 0.1% of cases)

the idea was to ride to Paris & then round the péripherique respecting speed limits, distances & lane discipline. Also, as the minister had suggested that "bikers should use the métro" they all parked up, using a car space per bike (!) & went & blocked the metro as well...


& yes the péripherique was such a complete nightmare they just closed it. The digital road signs read " Manif Motard. Périph fermée" ( biker demonstration. Peripherique closed)

I was out all day yesterday & haven't had time to catch up with official figures so I'll wait & see what the outcome is.

At the chateau de Vincennes, the most impressive thing was the sheer volume of sound, even with earplugs in!

[Rubberchicken]

Also, as the minister had suggested that "bikers should use the métro"

That's not even a particularly nice way to say "F*ck off".

I was out all day yesterday & haven't had time to catch up with official figures so I'll wait & see what the outcome is.

I read something about 10.000 bikes, this morning. Good score.

[Dee Duble Yuh]

15,000 at Wootton Bassett though

[moon]

That's not even a particularly nice way to say "F*ck off".


I read something about 10.000 bikes, this morning. Good score.

according to my sources (le Parisien; http://blog.leparisien.fr/roues_libr...t-au-bois.html ) the official version says 7200 & the organisers say 9000. Reality is probably somewhere between the 2. It's a lot more than I thought!