Semaine Fédérale Internationale de Cyclotourisme

[breeze]

Every year the International Week of Bicycle Tourism takes place in a different location in France. In 2017, its 79th year, it took over the Perche from July 30 through August 6.

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Back in June, Perche residents were already getting in the mood. Here are some of the early decorations we saw.

[breeze]

Up to my old tricks, missing photos or posting them twice. I meant to post this compass rose from the center of Mortagne au Perche.

[breeze]

I was sorry we wouldn’t be there for the event itself and I read as much as I could about it, before and after. I assumed that it would draw lots of young guys in spandex. Not so. Lithe youthful guys were in the minority. This week is purely for fun and is open to even the most casual cyclist. It’s an opportunity to bike in a region that might be new to you, to cycle along with two or three generations of your family or with old friends from your local cycling club, and to meet other cycling enthusiasts. There were lots of middle-aged and older men and women in this crowd. Family groups came–kids, parents, grandparents. There were road bikes, mountain bikes, tandems, and at least one four-person bike.

Nearly all the villages decorated in some way. Lots of old bikes came out of storage sheds and were dusted off, painted, decked with paper flowers or otherwise cleverly decorated, then hung from roofs or featured in store windows or propped up on top of garden walls. I doubt there was a used bike for sale anywhere in Normandy until the event was over.

Every store that had room for a bike in their window made it the center of their display. Never mind whether it had any possible relationship to their merchandise.

[breeze]

Bikes were looked up to.

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St. Langis les Mortagne got off to an early start with their decorations and they kept adding to them. Here’s what they looked like in September.

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Some were larger than life. The fourth one is much more striking than it looks in my photo.

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Some of the decorations were small, even subtle.

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Bikes and flowers go together like flowers and bikes.

[breeze]

Now for a wall of text telling you all you want to know--and more--about the event before I get to my last two photos.

I had wondered how an event expected to draw 8-12,000 cyclists would work out in the Perche, which doesn’t have a highly developed tourist infrastructure. There aren’t many hotels, no motels that I know of, and not a huge number of B&Bs and gites. There aren’t that many restaurants or supermarkets. Mortagne itself, where most of the activity would be centered, has some very narrow streets with a complicated traffic pattern, and it’s up a steep hill.

Ten thousand cyclists showed up but as it turned out lodging wasn’t much of a problem. Thousands biked in, others came with their own white camping cars, and most of them set up in one of three huge temporary campsites. Others filled up the B&Bs and hotels. They stopped at the various food stands set up along each day’s route or did their own cooking back at the campsite. Local cidre and boudin noir were on offer, bien sûr!

The Perche countryside is tranquil, and apparently thousands of cyclists on the road didn’t make a dent in that. The visitors appreciated the beautiful forests, the manoirs and small chateaux, the fairly quiet (except for fellow cyclists) roads, and the constant sunshine during their visit.

Local drivers, of cars and tractors, got into the spirit of the event and shared the road.

Two thousand enthusiastic volunteers worked hard starting weeks in advance. One hundred fifty communes were involved and they went all out. One village had a brass band. When the biking crowds came through a village, residents greeted them with offers of water, coffee, snacks, apples, or plums. Village children sang or cheered on the cyclists. One cyclist was invited into a family’s cellar and was given a bottle of Calvados.

It struck me that an area that is used to heavy tourism might be less welcoming, the residents blasé or annoyed with one more event that will clog their roads at great inconvenience to locals and cause long lines at the boulangeries and markets. From that standpoint, the Perche was an excellent choice as a venue.

The week was organized with a different area to cycle through each day, with one day off in the middle. Every day there was a choice of routes, ranging from 42 to 171 kilometers and a change in altitude of 678 to 1873 meters. There was always one route designed for road bikes, one for mountain bikes, another for walkers, one for people driving, as well as a discovery route. There were planned activities each night and starting and closing ceremonies.

Many regions of France were represented. Cycling clubs sported matching outfits. At the end of the event there was a parade of cycling groups, each group wearing some symbol of their region.

It truly was an international event--21 countries were represented, from as far away as South America and Japan.

By all accounts, the cyclists loved the Perche and the locals loved them. One resident told me the week was “brilliant.” It was all very convivial, and the cyclists were friendly and appreciative of the warm welcome.

In 2018 the 80th annual event will be in Epinal.

Here’s my favorite tribute to cycling, in the village of Les Aspres.

[breeze]

And because I got so much enjoyment out of all this, my husband made me this birthday card. We ourselves did not get on a bike all year, which makes me an armchair cyclist. Maybe a recumbent would suit me.

[kerouac2]

Cycling is such a joyous sport in France, as well as in quite a few other European countries, because the whole family can participate at whatever speed they want, whether they are 4 or 94 years old. You can go fast or slow, stop whenever you want -- basically anywhere to have a picnic, pee, or just admire the panorama. How many sports allow you to do that?

This year I am determined to see part of the Tour de France again even though I don't give a damn who is participating and even less who wins, but just because it is so much fun to join the enthusiastic crowds in whatever spot you want -- you are not stuck in a stadium or anything. It is just about the perfect sport as far as I am concerned.

[lagatta]

Why would a recumbent suit you more than an upright? Back problems?

Of course I enjoyed this very much. I assume that there were also events featuring Percheron horses. Percheron might be a good name for a line of sturdy-be cargo bikes and trikes. At Schipol, I saw a heavy cargo trike carrying ... bikes.

Is there little tourism because it is sort of in-between the better known regions of Normandy, Brittany and greater Paris? It doesn't look spectacular but it does look interesting.

[mossie]

They really do go town for this event, many thanks for showing us.

[bjd]

Lagatta, I think there is little tourism indeed because it's a sort of in-between area with no well-known sights. It's pretty enough but a bit too far from the sea, mountains or interesting cities to attract anyone other than tourists looking for nature and calm.

Thanks for all these photos, Breeze. This is an event I knew nothing about, but then again, I am not much of a cyclist. I prefer to walk. It's nice that all the locals seem to participate in decorating the villages with such inspiration.

[amboseli]

Despite the Tour de France, Paris-Roubaix, etc. I think France isn't the best country to make nice cycling trips. Not for amateurs anyway, and not on par with Germany or the Netherlands.
We have cycled in the Loire Valley last year (I wrote a report) and will cycle in the Alsace this June. I'll let you know how it went ...

[breeze]

Lagatta, I was kind of joking about the recumbent bike since I haven't biked in so long.

The Perche is a beautiful area, close enough to Paris that there's a lively market in weekend properties. Ill tell my favorite real estate story. One Saturday lunchtime two couples were seated at a table near us, one couple decked in gold and looking very polished and coiffed. The other two were not at all flashy; the guy had on one of those vests that you see a lot in the country. They looked nervous, like country mice with their Parisian cousins. The wealthier couple was quite at home in the restaurant, ordered champagne for the four of them, and they all toasted something but I couldn't tell what (even though I was nearby and paying close attention). My guess was the country couple had just sold their home to the Parisians. Nope. A few days later I saw the coiffed, gilded man coming out of the real estate office and realized I had it backwards. He was the realtor and the nervous quiet ones had just bought a property from him, probably at a price that would keep them nervous and plainly dressed for years.

The fairly new bike trail, the Veloscenic from Paris to Le Mont Saint-Michel, goes right through the Perche along the Voie Verte on a disused railway line.

Lagatta, I like your Percheron heavy bike idea. Now that you mention it, I don't recall any particular attention to the Percheron horse during the bike week. If so, the organizers missed a trick.

[bixaorellana]

This report is an absolute delight, Breeze -- so happy! Out of all the very clever and imaginative bike incarnations shown, my favorite is the horsecycle in the patch of big marigolds.

Did you all know beforehand that the Perche would be hosting the Bike Tourism event while you were there, or was that just a happy accident?

[breeze]

bixa, the local newspaper that I keep up with online started talking about this a year in advance, so I knew the dates and realized we wouldn't be around at that time, so we just soaked up what we could on our spring and fall trips. By September when we returned, a lot of the displays were already gone. I photographed every one we saw but decided to spare Anyport my dozens more photos.

I imagine that Epinal, the venue for 2018, is feverishly working up its decorations even as I type. I hope it's as much fun for them as it was for the Perche.