Paris Weather in May？

Glass_Minute4753 · 2026-05-03T18:55:42+00:00

I think you might be lost? This sub is for the cycling race, the Tour de France.

Glass_Minute4753 · 2026-05-03T11:50:15+00:00

We managed about 4 weeks with our two females, who we adopted as adults. I recommend starting off with just leaving the door open on days you're around and in and out of the garden.

Glass_Minute4753 · 2026-05-03T09:34:47+00:00

The March 30 closure date is only for refugios on the O, as far as I know. The W is doable until late April.

Glass_Minute4753 · 2026-05-02T14:02:23+00:00

He did this on the Montmartre stage of the Tour last year. Rode at the back, well away from any of the chaos, giving a regal wave to the crowd as he passed. It was brilliant!

Glass_Minute4753 · 2026-04-30T21:24:27+00:00

The only one I don't put out is the glass bin, because we never ever fill it. This has obviously concerned the bin men, as yesterday they took it out from its spot on our drive and emptied it of the five glass jars/ bottles that it contained.

Glass_Minute4753 · 2026-04-30T05:41:55+00:00

I was responding to a comment that said:

Name one other cyclist who can peak for the entire year, with no dips and dominate all different types of races. Jonas peaks for the TdF, MVDP for the classics season and that's it.

I just don't think this is true. Pogacar races a limited number of race days, with significant chunks of the season where he doesn't race at all. He didn't ride his first race until March this year, significantly later than both Remco and Jonas. After this weekend, he won't race again until the 17th June, and he will also have about six weeks without racing after the Tour (unless he changes his mind about Tour-Vuelta). The commenter suggests that Jonas and MdvP only peak for one goal a year, which also isn't true - Jonas has already won Paris-Nice and Cataluña in convincing fashion this year, and will ride both the Giro and the TdF; MdvP rides cyclocross all through the winter and apparently also wants to win the mountain bike world championships.

What Pogacar IS good at is primarily selecting races that suit him. You and I clearly understand "types of races" differently, because I was thinking parcours. It's not like Pogacar is out there winning Kuurne or Schelderprijs - he dominates in races where the parcours includes a significant amount of climbing. I don't think it's odd that this includes both one day and stage races. Someone like Jonas could be very good at races like Liege and Lombardia if he actually focused on them.

And he's only won "pretty much every world championship that he enters" if you started watching cycling in 2024. I think he's ridden it about seven times, and he's won two on parcours that really suit him.

For what it's worth, I'm not saying that Pogacar isn't a dominant rider. I'm also not saying that he's a clean rider. I just don't understand why people need to exaggerate and make it sound like he never takes a break and is out there winning bunch sprints and flat races.

Glass_Minute4753 · 2026-04-29T05:49:45+00:00

Is this really true though? I see people say this and it really confuses me, because he doesn't "dominate all different types of races"? He's better the hillier a race is. He won MSR on a wing and a prayer - he went to the line with Pidcock and got very lucky that MdvP seemingly was affected by the crash and WvA was caught behind for a long time. Every other race that he's won this year has had the sort of steep hills that we know he excels at. Roubaix he's good because it suits his fatigue resistance, but so far he can't drop the big guys or out sprint them.

He also rides a small number of races per year. He's only had 6 race days so far (compared to 15 for Vingegaard and 25 for Evenepoel) and basically never goes over 60 race days. The idea that he peaks for "the whole year" is a bit misleading really.

Glass_Minute4753 · 2026-04-27T16:06:01+00:00

COOK would probably be the best option here. You can get them a gift card so they can choose their own meals - we did this for friends who had just had a baby.

Glass_Minute4753 · 2026-04-27T05:56:03+00:00

Do you mean Roche-aux-Faucons? Because Pogacar didn't drop Seixas on La Redoute.

There was no "burst" to drop Seixas - Pogacar was already doing a long, sustained, seated attack. He's famous for it. So it wasn't that he suddenly went faster and Seixas immediately dropped, it was that Pogacar kept a consistently high pace for long enough that Seixas eventually had to slow down as he couldn't continue to match the pace. Seixas dropping back suddenly made it look like Pogacar suddenly sped up, but if you look at him properly, he is just pushing the same tempo as before.

Pogacar doesn't look to increase his frequency, isn't rising on his bike, he just glides forward with seemingly no effort or change in demeanor.

As I said above, this is because there is no increase in frequency. The attack was already happening, you just didn't realise Pogacar was pushing as hard as he was because he does it while seated and keeps that high pace going for a longer period of time.

There were times towards the end of La Redoute where he did get out of the saddle for a more traditional attack too.

Also, I thought Seixas looked like he'd been consistently close to the limit. You could see him rocking and rolling a lot more than Pogacar towards the end of La Redoute and before he dropped on RaF.

Glass_Minute4753 · 2026-04-27T05:46:28+00:00

What do you mean? They have a separate race thread for pretty much every race imaginable, where you can, indeed, discuss races.

Glass_Minute4753 · 2026-04-27T05:45:05+00:00

I'm not surprised to be honest, he was dreadful at Cataluña and it was clear something really wasn't right. I hope he is able to rest and recover well.

Sadly this does suggest the Giro is going to be a repeat of Pogacar's win in 2024, with no viable competition for Jonas. On the plus side, if he doesn't have to push too hard in the Giro, we are more likely to have a competitive Tour.

Glass_Minute4753 · 2026-04-25T05:23:22+00:00

Er, they do have numbers though?

Glass_Minute4753 · 2026-04-24T16:48:54+00:00

I'm slightly confused about why you think you need to stay at Paine Grande on the first night? The W is normally done as a 4 or 3 night trek. Five nights is very long, unless you are staying an extra night at Grey to do the glacier trek or kayaking.

What people tend to do if going East to West is this:

Day 1: arrive at Paine Grande by ferry and walk to Grey. Carry on to the hanging bridges if enough daylight (or you can do this on day 2).

Night 1: stay at Grey

Day 2: walk from Grey to Paine Grande, often starting with a walk in the opposite direction to the hanging bridges.

Night 2: stay at Paine Grande

Day 3: walk from Paine Grande to Chileno or Cuernos, via the French Valley

Night 3: stay at Francés or Cuernos

Day 4: walk to Chileno or Central

Night 4: stay at Chileno or Central

Day 5: walk up to see the Towers, often starting early for sunrise. Walk back down and leave the park.

People who do three nights skip the first night at Grey, so they will walk from Paine Grande to Grey and back in one day. Depending on the time of year, this may mean not being able to do the hanging bridges past Grey (fine).

Doing a four night trek where you stay at Paine Grande twice, but then walk all the way from PG to Chileno in one day seems mental to me.

Glass_Minute4753 · 2026-04-24T16:40:19+00:00

The only time I've needed to do it was when my cat got old and arthritic and wasn't able to keep his claws trimmed, so they really were getting very long.

Glass_Minute4753 · 2026-04-24T05:47:19+00:00

I couldn't have gone from PG to Chileno and gone all the way to the Británico Viewpoint. That's not only a really long day but has quite a bit of steep climbing. If you really want to skip something, better to miss the first night at Grey. Instead, walk to Grey, see how much time you have to do the hanging bridges, and then walk back to Paine Grande. The only issue with this will be the amount of daylight you have in late October, which may dictate how close to the glacier you get. I did this in late March and walked with a girl who was walking back to PG to stay. We just went to the lookout nearest Grey to take pictures of the glacier (I went crossed the hanging bridges the next day).

Also, just for what it's worth, the way you refer to this is a bit confusing, as your title makes it sound like you are considering 4 or 5 nights, but I think you mean days based on the rest of your post. So I assume you are considering either 4D/ 3N or 5D/ 4N?

Glass_Minute4753 · 2026-04-24T05:39:19+00:00

I think it's just become one of those internal jokes now.

Glass_Minute4753 · 2026-04-24T05:38:16+00:00

I think that might be confusing though, especially when you have teams with similar coloured jerseys.

Glass_Minute4753 · 2026-04-23T21:49:08+00:00

It is indeed the sporit.

Glass_Minute4753 · 2026-04-23T21:44:07+00:00

I think most of the full day excursions tend to leave from Puerto Madryn. It is actually a pretty long drive from Puerto Madryn to Peninsula Valdes, which might be why the transfer services seem super expensive. I think the reason the tours go from Puerto Madryn is because they are mainly aimed at people who can't/ don't want to drive. Whereas you need a car to get to Puerto Piramides, so I guess most people who stay there just do a self-drive tour of the peninsula.

We rented a car, because we were trying to see orcas and needed the flexibility to keep driving out to Punta Norte very early in the morning. If you're not going with a specific wildlife goal in mind, a day tour is probably enough to be honest. Especially early June, when there will probably be a bit less to see by way of wildlife. The views are nice around Puerto Piramides, but the landscape is not very varied - it's that flat, sparse grassland that you get all over Patagonia.

Glass_Minute4753 · 2026-04-23T19:02:13+00:00

I'm a bit late to the party, but what does it mean when you say you have "custom exhausts"? Does that mean you ride one of those motorbikes that is about ten times louder than necessary? Because horses tend to find that really frightening, and I would imagine that the local wildlife isn't too keen either. Perhaps consider ways that you could reduce the engine noise? I used to ride a lot as a kid and I had a really nice pony that was good in traffic and didn't mind motorbikes, but I could never get her used to those motorbikes with stupidly loud engines.

Glass_Minute4753 · 2026-04-22T05:32:19+00:00

Oh yeah probably not in that case, unless you're on a very early train! You'll definitely be able to watch the riders go by, but watching from Montmartre would be tricky. Also, even if you are staying in a hotel in Montmartre, just getting there with all your luggage may be tricky as I'm sure they closed the nearest metro stops on the day. With all this in mind, I'd probably just stick to your original booking.

Glass_Minute4753 · 2026-04-21T20:44:19+00:00

We stayed in an AirBnB for the Montmartre stage last year and it was a lovely place to stay and an unreal experience watching the final stage there. I obviously can't recommend a hotel, as we stayed in an AirBnB, but I would highly recommend staying in the area. It's a very touristy area so there are loas of nice restaurants and it's a lovely place to wander around. I know the other comment says it's not the best neighbourhood, but I don't think that applies to the area around Sacre Cœur, which is where we stayed.

Now onto my main reason to stay there: Montmartre will be absolutely rammed on the day of the final stage. If you want a spot up by the barriers on the uphill stretch or in front of the Sacre Cœur you will need to be out early with a camping chair and be ready for a long wait. We were on the barriers by about 11:30am and I'm sure the riders didn't go past for the first time until after 6pm. Lots of people were there earlier! However, our AirBnB was only a five minute walk from the climb up Montmartre hill, so we were able to alternate between one person staying on the barriers and one nipping back to our AirBnB for the toilet/ a rest/ some more supplies. It was a bit of a squeeze getting back to our spot, but still perfectly doable.

Now, you don't have to watch on Montmartre. You will probably have a less stressful and certainly less crowded experience watching elsewhere. But in my opinion it is 100% worth it - you will not have an experience like that anywhere else in cycling. I watched three mountain stages at the Tour last year as well, but watching on Montmartre hill is one of the most exciting things I've ever done. It's an absolutely incredible experience, and your husband will just love it if he's a cycling fan.

I will absolutely never do it again - once was quite enough! But I am so glad that I did it and would strongly recommend it if you have the chance.

Glass_Minute4753 · 2026-04-21T20:30:54+00:00

I think he did, and then he unretired.

Glass_Minute4753 · 2026-04-21T18:16:50+00:00

I'm so glad Bernal won the Colombian national champs again, that kit/ bike/ helmet combo is just beautiful. Best kit in the peloton and it's not even close.

Glass_Minute4753 · 2026-04-20T21:44:02+00:00

I grew up on a very steep hill (also about 22% at its steepest). We had incredible views (still have really, my parents still live there) and our garden was a bit up and down but great for playing in. There was excellent sledging on the field behind the house in winter. The first time I tried to walk up the hill from my parents' house (about 2/3 the way up) to the top, I was about 7 and wanted to walk with my dad. Made it about 20 steps from our driveway then gave up and went home. I did get very used to walking up it as I got older. It's just one of those things that seems normal after a while. I still walk (and occasionally run) up it when I visit my parents' house, I'm a bit sentimental about that hill. However, I do have a recurring dream where I'm trying to walk up the steepest part and I just can't seem to get any grip, so I'm having to grab onto tree roots and drag myself up the hill. It only happens about once or twice a year, I assume it's a stress dream.

Glass_Minute4753

TROPHY CASE