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Cycling in France
Original article: https://www.sheldonbrown.com/france-cycling.html on sheldonbrown.com
- Reproduced with the permission of John Allen and Harriet Fell — all rights reserved. The version on sheldonbrown.com is authoritative.
- Mirrored: 2026-10-09 · Last update of the original: see original
La Belle France is Paradise for the touring cyclist. This page consists of links to other pages and sites that may be of use to cyclists contemplating a trip to France.
See also my personal France page for more links and photos.
Sheldon Brown's English/French Bicycle Dictionary
Le Vélo-Dictionnaire de Sheldon Brown
Sheldon Brown's article about older French bicycles.
Cycling in France by Sheldon Brown, with comments from Tandem@Hobbes Advice to Americans visiting France.
In 1989, with my daughter and son (for his 6th birthday) , we made an overnight tour to Chartres on two kid-back tandems.
Now: videos about PBP and links to several PBP pages. My wife, Harriet Fell, rode the 1975 Paris-Brest-Paris...read all about it!
Tour Reports:
Jim Balter's Tour in Normandy and Brittany
Mike Bedard on touring in France for cyclists "d'un certain age."
Tourmalet the Hard Way--Geoff Husband of Breton Bikes tells all!
Don LaVange's Loire River Valley Tour
Edward Lipman writes about his month in Provence, August 1996
Robin Reid answers questions about her French tour, July 1996
Paul Smee and Ann French toured Normandy and Brittany in 1995.
Judee & Art Wickersham's tandem camping tour, September, 1995
Karen S. Zukor's tandem tour in France in June, 1996
General Information on Touring in France (and elsewhere.)
Bicycle Outfitter Single and Tandem Rentals
Former site, different proprieters.
Cycling in the Pyrenees (now an archived page) Watch the climax of the Tour de France!
Cycling in France, 1908 Excerpts from Thos. Cook's 1908 guide book relating to cycle-touring.
George Farnsworth has a substantial site on transporting bicycles on trains, planes, etc. Travel with Bicycles Air/Rail/Other (page now archived)
Charles Hansen's syllabus on preparing for cycle touring in Europe. Based on his course taught at the Cambridge Center for Adult Education
Q. May (https://web.archive.org/web/20220808155535/http://www.mayq.com/) (archived but recent)
Q. May (https://web.archive.org/web/20220808155535/http://www.mayq.com/)
I. How to Bicycle In and Out of Paris
II. Twelve Best Road Bicycle Itineraries in Europe
III. Cycle Touring in Europe: Why, when, where, and how to bike there
Trento Bike Pages--France The Trento Bike Pages provide information on cycling in Europe and the Mediterranean.
Tour de France
Commercial Tour Operators:
Breton Bikes Cycling Holidays A commercial company providing organized cycle tours in France, specializing in Brittany and Normandy. This site has good general touring info, as well as commercial material.
Vélo Transatlantique A commercial company providing organized cycle tours in France, specializing in tandems.
