LSPlo

I want to ride the entire TDF route. Is this even possible? I've found a few different tour groups, but everything seems to get shortened and wimped out. I remember that there was a charity group riding the whole route a few years back but I don't recall any details. Do they do it every year? Is it one of those things where you have to be a surviving cancer member whose dog just died in order to ride?

Some groups offer rides for the big mountain stages, and these are really the only ones where I would absolutely have to ride the exact same route. Say I did those with an organized group and tried to find my own routes for the flatter stages (i.e., ride 195 km for "stage 1" and do my own 29 km TT for "stage 4"). Would that be a relatively easy thing to do? I could ride in a different area to try to stay away from traffic congestion.

LIUser22

train really hard and compete in it.

If not... yes, you can ride the whole tour, but im pretty sure they change it every year.

Machka 

Just get a map for it, find the roads, and ride ... the route consists of regular, everyday roads. I think the roads they choose are mainly "D" or "N" roads, not the "A" roads where all the traffic is.

I rode part of it quite inadvertently last year. There we were riding along in Belgium, and I started noticing TDF signs everywhere ... sure enough we were on the route.
https://www.machka.net/pbp2007/2007_Pre-PBP.htm
(I think that part of the story starts on Page 2)

And yes, in many places it would be quite easy to get off the route ... France (and Belgium) are a maze of roads.

vantassell

Would you want to do each stage in a day? or sometimes two days? That'd be pretty rad though. Ride it before the tour and it'd be a ton more fun to watch.

Machka 

If you ride it after, you get to see all the displays the local people put up for it.

LSPlo

I don't know. Just from watching it seems like some of those roads are busy ones, especially on the long, flat stages. And I'm not sure just getting a map is so easy. Where can you find the roads, not just "Town A to Town B, XX km"?

Machka 

They wouldn't likely run the TDF on the A roads ... there are no bicycles allowed on A roads. I was on a long, flat stage and it was D and N roads ... not terribly busy. There are cars on those roads, of course, but not that many of them. Those roads probably look busy on the TDF coverage because of all the tourists who come to see the TDF.

Here's the TDF page: https://www.letour.fr/ Have a look around and find the 2007 route ... I don't think all the details about the 2008 route are completely there yet.

If you go just after the TDF, all you have to do is to get to one of the towns on the route, and you can follow it. There are LOTS of signs.

zonatandem

You don't need an organized tour, but you do need more than a month's worth of time to cover it. And yes, the routes vary from year to year. The do enter (some years) Spain, Belgium, England etc.
Suggest you immerse yourself in the French language . . . et bon chance a vous!

Machka 

+1

I was in France a month this past August, cycled 1200 kms there, and barely covered a portion of the distance I wanted to cover.

And yes, the more French you know the better. The French people are wonderful ... friendly and helpful, and more than willing to make an effort to communicate in a little bit of English, especially if you speak at least some coherent French.

Surferbruce

it's been done, i remember reading about a guy who booked a guide company and spent about a year and a half setting it up and training for it. it would take a lot of prep and a lot of fitness. you'd need some other folks to ride the stages with you so you're not sitting out in the wind all day, a support crew and vehicle, lodging, food, spare bike(s), a mechanic (on day 15 you are not gonna want to spend your evening repairing your bike...) the list goes on.
it's doable, but to have any chance of pulling it off you're gonna have your scene covered.
For a warm up try something like Paris-Brest-Paris

Machka 

Why would you need all that??? Each day on the tour is what ... no longer than about 200 kms? 200 kms a day isn't bad, and many days aren't anywhere near that long. And the tour is 3 weeks long ... really, not all that long.

People who go on cycle-tours ride similar distances with one bicycle, some general mechanical knowledge of their own, no support crew, food they find along the way, lodging they find along the way (i.e. a campsite), and full panniers to haul around. And they often go for longer time periods than 3 weeks. When I toured Australia, I was on my bicycle and living out of my panniers for 3 months.

The OP doesn't have to race the route ... just ride and enjoy it. It's very doable.

Oh, and the PBP is an amazing experience too, which I would recommend.

save10

it was through destiation cycling.

https://www.destinationcycling.com/trips/dc2007.html

https://pezcyclingnews.com/?pg=fullstory&id=3247
https://www.pezcyclingnews.com/?pg=fullstory&id=4122
https://pezcyclingnews.com/?pg=fullstory&id=3288

LSPlo

That's the one I was thinking of! Anybody seen a price for this ride?

botto 

don't be pretty, be sure.

the N roads are, for all intents and purposes, highways.

correct.

MarkSch

It is VERY easy to get the routes....My folks used to live in Geneva, and each year the French cycling mags would put out a supplement that contained the precise route information, including distances, road numbers, towns, summits, sprint locations...etc etc. I rode several of the Alpine stages using that information. From perusing the internet over the past couple years, it looks like you can get about that level of detail these days as well.

As others have said...and as you surmise...some of the roads will be busier....I found that French, Swiss drivers were more accomodating of cyclists than those in the US, but still, I think avoiding some of the bigger roads is probably wise....you can almost always find a smaller alternative.

Mark

botto 

which is fine if you want to ride the previous years route.

btw - the Mountain stages are the easiest to find the routes to.

Not only wise, in some cases mandatory.

Machka 

Yes, but I didn't find them overly busy. Closer to some of the towns they got a bit that way, but out in the country they weren't bad. And the French drivers do seem to try to avoid running over cyclists.

botto 

What part of the country were you in?

Surferbruce

ok tough guy, have at it. If you're gonna spend 4 months riding the route, you may be right, but if you're gonna attempt it on a similar time schedule as the actual tour, AND actually have a chance, you're gonna need all the help you can get.

merlinextraligh

1)Trying to ride the exact route would be a major pain in the rear. The TDF has the benefit of being able to close roads. Without road closures, there would be portions of many stages that would be no fun, if not impermissable to ride.

Much better idea to pick out the major climbs and ride those, and skip various connecting roads.



2) If you want to do a stage as close to the real thing as possible, do L'Etape de Tour.

Machka 

I'm a girl, not a guy ... and I disagree. I'm also a long distance rider. The idea of riding long distances over several days isn't unusual to me (see my website in my signature line).

A fit rider can complete a 200 km brevet in 10 hours or less. That gives you 14+ hours until you've got to get back on the bicycle again ... lots of time to sleep, do a few of your own repairs if necessary (probably not necessary anyway), eat, etc. And many of the stages are shorter than 200 kms, like the TT day ... plus there's a day off in the middle.

PAC Tour riders cross the US in 17 days ... if that's possible (and I know riders who have done it), riding the TDF route in 3 weeks should be possible. https://www.pactour.com/

Personally, I'd suggest doing the route in 6 weeks instead of 3 weeks so that you've got time to check out the towns and sights along the way ... but a reasonably fit person could do it in 3 weeks.

4 months is an incredibly long time to cover about 3000 kms on a tour!!!

Machka 

https://www.letapedutour.com/

Machka 

Started in Dunkerque, cycled to Ieper, around the Ieper area, then to Lille ... train to Paris & St. Quentin (cycled around both Paris and St. Quentin) ... cycle St. Quentin to Loudeac ... train back to St. Quentin ... train to Chateau Thierry ... cycled around the Chateau Thierry area ... train to Nancy ... cycled to Strasbourg ... train to Lille ... cycled to Ieper ... cycled to Dunkerque.

Cycling up the Champs Elysees was a challenge!! That was busy!! Nothing like trying to dodge bumper to bumper traffic and about a million pedestrians all while riding cobblestones.

Now all this cycling was in August, and from what I understand quite a bit of France is on holiday in August ... so maybe that made a difference.

caloso

It's been done.

JonnyV

Yeah, ride after. That way you can put up a display for yourself when everyone else doing it. Then you ride and see a sign for yourself and feel like a pro. Or a complete weenie, whichever works for you. Good luck!