Bike riding in France
 

Has anyone done any recreational bike rides (20-30 miles) in either Burgandy or Bordeaux? We are interested in day trips only and not the Multiple day tours. Any recommendations of where to start would be helpful. thanks!

Not in decades, but I might suggest the Loire, since it is flatter than a lot of places, and would seem to supply the wine possibilities you might be seeking. Plus chateaux.

there are a couple of routes on here www.mybikeguide.co.uk

Bordeaux has a bunch of bike path small rides out from the town itself, though many of the roads are pretty quiet.

http://www.bordeaux-tourisme.com/uk/...ial_index.html

For Burgundy I prefer Auxerre/Chablis to the area around Beaune but I'm pretty sure Tourist Info on the Burgundy website will offer some more.

http://www.burgundy-tourism.com/

Try these sites:

www.freewheelingfrance.com

http://www.voiesvertes.com/htm/departement33.htm

http://www.tourisme-gironde.fr/Decou...-ses-alentours

http://www.uk.tourisme-gironde.cg33....e_cyclable.asp

http://www.burgundy-by-bike.com/

http://www.burgundy-tourism.com/page...bike-5034.html

If you are good at reading Michelin maps these are all that I ever use to plan cycling routes anywhere in France. The Michelin maps have icons for all kinds of historically/touristically interesting things such as châteaux, ruins, churches, abbeys, scenic view points, caves, Roman sites, megaliths, designated scenic roads and many other things. Usually when I'm exploring various regions in France I just look at the map and I am able to plan interesting and scenic rides just reading the map. For instance, I usually look for a designated scenic road, which are highlighted in green, and I especially look for towns with the historic church and/or château icon. I also try to make sure the route goes through as many small villages as possible. Usually putting all these things together I find interesting and scenic rides without even knowing where I am going and with no assistance from a guide book. Often these places are never mentioned in guidebooks and remain completely unknown to many tourists.

Let me give you some tips on how to read the Michelin maps of the scale 1:200,000 or 1:150,000 for biking. I generally stay on the small white roads and sometimes the yellow roads while generally trying to avoid the red roads (which carry the most traffic). You will find that the small white roads (country roads) are remarkably traffic free in the countryside. If a road has a hill with greater than a 5% gradient you will notice that such a road will have a gradient arrow superimposed on the road. One arrow means a gradient of 5%-9%, two arrows means a gradient from 9%-13% and three arrows means a gradient of over 13%. Just because a road has no gradient arrows doesn't mean there are no hills but whatever hills there are should not be too strenuous. Twisty roads often mean hilly as well. Areas shaded in white are generally non-forested terrain while areas shaded in green generally mean forested terrain.

You can buy the Michelin maps from their website and here is a link to the page that shows you the 1:200,000 scale maps of France: http://tinyurl.com/4bt96ev

And here is a link to the page that shows you the 1:150,000 scale maps of France:
http://tinyurl.com/6mt4n64

If you are looking for dedicated bikeways you can do google searches using keys words such as "pistes cyclables (enter your region)" or "voies vertes (enter your region)". Also, the local tourist offices usually have very good info about hiking and biking trails which they usually don't put on their websites.

France does have some websites that will show where there are designated bike routes and there are also other on-line resources available for bikers so let me gives you a few links you may find useful:

http://www.voiesvertes.com/
http://www.ffct.org/
http://www.af3v.org/Cycle-routes-and-greenways-in.html
http://www.gobicycletouring.info/
http://www.cartovelo.com/
http://slowtraveladventures.wordpress.com/
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/...ogle-maps.html

I'll add that you can bring your bikes on the local TER trains so if you want to take a train outside of Bordeaux to start your ride that is a possibility. Here are links that show the train lines near Bordeaux and in Burgundy:

http://www.ter-sncf.com/Regions/aqui...rte_Flash.aspx

http://www.ter-sncf.com/Regions/bour...rte_Flash.aspx

You might take a serious look at cycling the Loire Valley. Bike tours are very popular there:

http://www.loire-a-velo.fr/
http://www.chateauxavelo.com/

I would definitely recommend you contact these people as well:

http://frenchmystiquetours.com/

Thanks everyone for the great suggestions! French mystic tours has been very helpful. I am starting to look at places to stay. Best places - Dijon/Beaune/???? We will have a car as well....
Learning how to travel. :-)

I can't help with hotel recommendations but tourist office websites are a great resource for that and just about any other travel assistance you might need. Have a look at this thread which has links to all the major tourist office websites for Burgundy:

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic...-Burgundy.html

That's great that you'll have a car. The Michelin map tips about biking also apply to exploring by car. I like Beaune and think it makes a nice base but it really depends on which parts of Burgundy you want to visit. If you'll have a week or more to spend in Burgundy then two different bases might make sense.

I have biked all around the Hexagon and those are two of the nicer areas but Bordeaux can be boiling in summer and if not into wine I'd head to the nearby Dordogne - Burgundy is a great one for short trips - espcially along the Route des vins bourgogne - a marked side road going by innmerable famous wine houses and villages whose names grace Grand Crus known worldwide.