Cycle Touring in France. Stephen Fox

pads.

      For a front wheel puncture simply deflate the inner tube fully and pull the wheel out between the brake shoes after releasing the quick release or loosening the nuts either side of the dropouts.

      Removing the tyre and inner tube: start tyre removal directly opposite the valve area, squeezing the sides of the tyre towards the centre and inserting a tyre lever under the lip of the tyre. Lift this up and over the edge of the wheel's rim, then insert another tyre lever under the edge of the tyre about 3in from the other lever and lift the tyre edge over the rim here too. By sliding and lifting one of the levers sideways, thus releasing more of the tyre's edge, you should soon be able to lift the whole edge of the tyre clear of the wheel's rim on one side.

      Pull the inner tube out from inside the tyre, starting opposite the valve area. With most of the tube out now unscrew the nut on the valve and lift the valve out of the valve hole to completely remove the tube from the tyre. Depending on your circumstances, you may now either simply opt to replace the punctured tube with a new one and repair the punctured tube later on at the next campsite or hotel stop, or patch the puncture if you do not have a spare inner tube. Visually check the inside of the tyre and run a thin cloth around its interior, just to be sure there are no sharp objects inside or protruding through the wall that will simply cause another puncture.

      If you plan to repair the inner tube, chalk or mark around the hole area after inflating the tube and locating the puncture hole. Next deflate the tube, place it on a flat, clean surface and roughen the puncture area with some sandpaper. Apply a smooth layer of glue around the hole, just slightly bigger in circumference than the repair patch you will attach to it after a few minutes (once the glue has dried and become tacky). Firmly apply a patch that will substantially cover the hole (it will expand when the tube has been inflated) and make sure there are no air bubbles or folds in the patch before inflating the tube. If you suffer a blow out, the hole will usually be too large to repair, so your only option is replacing the inner tube with a spare one.

      Happy that the puncture is repaired, deflate the tube and put one side of the tyre's edge inside the wheel's rim, then push the valve back through the valve hole and work the inner tube back inside the tyre. Inflate the inner tube a little and make sure you do not pinch it under the other edge of the tyre when you lift this back over the rim by hand. The final section may require the use of the tyre levers to help flip the remaining tyre edge back inside the wheel's rim; once again, check the tube isn't pinching here before reinflating it. Finally, screw the nut back onto the valve and return the wheel to the dropouts.

      Replacing a spoke

      If a spoke breaks, try to repair it as soon as possible. Strip the wheel down as described above, so that the rubber strip that runs around the wheel trough is exposed. If the broken spoke's pinhead sits in an eyelet on the hub flange directly behind the freewheel/cassette on the rear wheel, you will have to remove the latter. Remove the nipple of the broken spoke beneath the rubber strip and the spoke itself, paying attention to the way the old spoke is aligned (under or over other spokes). Replace the spoke, threading a new one through the eyelet on the hub flange up to the new nipple, repeating the correct alignment of the old spoke. The pinhead of the curved end of the spoke should sit well in the eyelet. Use a spoke wrench or flathead screwdriver (depending on the nipple head) to tighten the nipple onto the spoke thread. Do not overtighten – the new spoke should ‘ring’ the same as the other spokes when you pluck it.

      Occasionally you may not be able to carry out roadside repairs, or need to replace a broken or damaged component, and be a long way from the nearest bicycle shop. If it happens, stand back and review the situation and work out how you can adapt, improvise, overcome. On the Marne and Picardy tour one of my pedals sheared off because I had misthreaded it onto the crankarm before leaving the airport. As I was only a kilometre away from the village of Montreuil-aux-Lions I wheeled my bicycle there in pouring rain and found a garage. I asked the mechanic if he had a long bolt with two locking nuts that could act as a temporary pedal until I reached a good bike shop. He came up trumps, and although it didn't rotate as a pedal does this bolt got me to Château-Thierry, some 30km away, where there was a good bicycle shop. My cycling companion on the Alps tour suffered a stripped thread in the steerer tube resulting in a total loss of steering, but managed three cols before reaching a good bicycle shop in Albertville. He overcame the problem by tightly tying two webbing straps from his handlebars to the fork crown, thereby being able to control front-wheel direction. Whatever the dilemma, there is always a temporary solution.

      Appendix A covers most French vocabulary for bicycle parts.

What to Take

      When flying to France your hold luggage allowance is generally 20–25kg, and hand luggage is 5–10kg. Your bicycle is accepted as ‘sporting equipment’ and you may be charged for it. A group with four or more bicycles should notify the airline in advance. I've found that the airline check-in staff are somewhat more lenient with the luggage allowance if you check in early for your flight. A few kilograms over the limit might be tolerated, but they can charge you for excess weight. Unless it is too hot to do so, or the flight too long, I recommend wearing any heavy clothes rather than packing them, and putting all valuables in your handlebar bag (if you take one) which can be your hand luggage.

      Typical clothing list