Welcome Back for Season 5! Paris to Porto!

Welcome Back for Season 5! Paris to Porto!

August 11, 2025

Checking in at JFK. Bikes boxed and both weighing under the 50-pound limit.

Welcome to new readers and welcome back to loyal readers of the Shifting Gears blog!

On August 13, Heather & I start cycling by ourselves from Paris, France to Porto, Portugal. Our route through France, Spain and Portugal will take us about 1,800 miles and over 80,000’ of cumulative elevation gain! (that’s 2.8 Mount Everests of climbing.) We plan to finish September 15th in Porto! 

To Porto, the most direct route would be just head southwest from Paris. So of course, that is not what we are doing as that would be shorter by about 350 miles and we somehow don’t do easy. It would also miss out on some destinations in France that are bucket list places I have wanted to see but yet to visit despite several trips to the country. So, to begin we will actually ride north first so we can visit WW II sites in Normandy, Mont Saint Michel and Saint Malo. The last spot is a place I have thought of since 4th grade and will write more on that when we get there. 

From there we do start pedaling southwest but when we get to Nantes, we will detour for 2 days east to ride in the Loire Valley. Although we will make no forward progress towards Porto, I can finally get to Chateau Chenonceau in the Loire that I’ve wanted to visit since learning of it around 1991. 

From the Loire Valley, we’ll return to Nantes and make our way southwest close to the Atlantic coast (funny to be on the Atlantic from its eastern side!) and in Basque country, cross into Spain. We will cycle more or less along most of the famed pilgrimage route, The Camino to Santiago de Compostela. We’ll then cycle south on the reverse path of the Portuguese coastal Camino to Porto. If all goes well, we arrive September 15 – it would be amazing to see some of you there!

You can see the full details of our planned route at the bottom of this blog. It may vary due to weather, bike issues, fatigue or other unexpected plot twists.

Over the past 4 years, we cycled 4 self-supported epic journeys that circumnavigated the perimeter of the contiguous USA for a total of 11,751 miles. We rode as follows:

• In 2021, 2,970 miles over 46 days from San Diego, CA to St. Augustine, FL
• In 2022, 2,667 miles for 6 weeks down the Atlantic Coast from Bar Harbor, ME to Key West, FL
• In 2023, 2,065 miles along the Pacific Coast from Vancouver, Canada to Mexico. 
• In 2024, 4,049 miles from Bellingham, WA to Larchmont, NY

Celebrating our finish from the Pacific to our home in NY in 2024 with arrival at Dog Beach in Larchmont and greeting by friends & family.

This is our first self-supported ride overseas as our previous cycling trips abroad (Australia, Vietnam and India) have been with the benefit of companies. They were each epic but with a company that planned all the routes, booked lodging, organized logistics, provided lunches on ride days, handled bike mechanical issues - and in India provided a medic who was as busy as the mechanic! On group trips, there is also the benefit of camaraderie and emotional support of other riders – which also means Heather and I get a break from each other. 😊 I’ve not blogged on supported trips because it felt more like a vacation than an adventure where we encounter daily challenges and need to solve them. (I was wrong on India – at my lowest point, throwing up from dehydration, that was as hard as the most trying day of our first self-supported trip, the Southern Tier in 2021.)

When we are self-supported, we do it all. I design the itinerary, plan each daily route, and think through logistics. Heather books lodging – lots of Airbnb’s on this route, and executes the logistics like figuring out how we get to & from airports.

Without support overseas, we wonder what are the challenges we have yet to anticipate – aside from language. It helps that we both speak French, Heather thinks she speaks Spanish, and neither of us speaks Portuguese – thankfully we have Google translate. Will my shtick and inevitable Larry David like moments go over well abroad or land me in trouble? 

A common question we receive is about packing. How do we pack? 

The reply: as light as possible and very organized. For the curious, here is what I take: 

• Packing cube of cycling clothing: 4 kits (shorts, tops, socks), windbreaker, rain jacket, gloves (half finger and for cold mornings full finger), head coverings, leg warmers, arm sleeves with SPF to protect vs. sun
• Packing cube of NON-cycling clothing: 2 underwear, 2 socks, 2 shorts (1 doubles as swim trunks), 1 pants, 2 tees, 2 long sleeve tees. 
• Packing cube electronics: phone, front & rear lights, extra shifting battery, backup battery pack, AirPods, electric hand pump, + all chargers & cables, adapter.
• Packing cube of toiletries & first Aid
• Cycling gear: shoes, helmet, mirror (+ backup), lock, rain cap over helmet, 2 water bottles.
• Cycling maintenance: multitool, tire levers, spare inner tubes, spare spokes, chain lube, rags, chain cleaning brush, 1 spare tire between us, hand pump. 
• Miscellaneous: contact lens for rainy days, backup eyeglasses, sunglasses, eyeshades & earplugs for sleep, passport, bank card, credit cards, ziplocks, drawstring to use as backpack as needed, laundry bag, 2 bungee cords, reusable utensils for picnic lunches, hat.

Note sunscreen is one of my heaviest items as I experienced a bad allergic reaction of hives 4 years ago overseas to their sunscreen so I now stock up and take a full supply from home that I know works for me. Definitely more extra weight than desired but better safe than sorry. (Heather has food allergies that make it hard to find protein bars she can eat so she brings a 5-week supply of bars – her extra weight.)

Here is what it looks like.

Et voila – (I’m using my French already!) like magic here it is reduced to 2 panniers (saddlebags).

This is the secret recipe! And I modify slightly for each trip.

My panniers weighed 30.2 pounds which seemed too heavy so I pulled out some toothpaste, 1 sunscreen, nail clipper as Heather has hers, some bike rags, and some of my first aid supplies. I got them down to 28.7 pounds. This includes articles I’ll be wearing plus lights on the bike so should net down to 25 pounds in panniers which is my target. 

We have enjoyed guest riders on each of the 4 previous expeditions. Take a look at our itinerary & let us know if you are interested. We already have one guest planning to meet us for dinner! As well, if you have any friends or family on our route that you think we ought to connect with, feel free to send us their contact info. We also enjoy great food recommendations on route! I’ve already had 2 friends advise we must eat burnt Basque cheesecake in San Sebastian so I plan on having at least 2 slices – one for each of them! 

What started as a single cross-country ride motivated by our desire for adventure, has grown into a lifestyle for us and with more significance. We cycle to support the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation to honor our friends Ernie and Lenny, two individuals who we admire for their strength of character in living with paralysis. By their examples of perseverance and positivity in confronting adversity, they inspire us to ride when it is most difficult. (For readers who landed here without receiving an initial email from Heather or me, you can see our dedication letter to Ernie & Lenny and contribute here.)

Farewell dinner Saturday night with Ernie and his mom Susan. Photo credit to Susan who even caught the rising August full moon known as the Sturgeon Moon aka Corn Moon aka Harvest Moon.

And another farewell dinner Sunday night from friends!

Friends surprised us with a Carvel ice cream cake appropriately decorated! They know I love Carvel!

I hope you enjoy reading my observations of life on the road that help bring you along on our adventure. [New readers can enjoy full details in blog entry titled: The Backstory – how did this come to be. And can retrace our story starting in September 2021.]

Thank you to our daughter Sydney for once again managing the technical side of this blog, allowing me to just email her my finished copy and photos for her to then drop in to a professional looking format.

We look forward to hearing from you - questions, suggestions and comments. 

Thank you for reading! Paris to Porto! Ride on! Next blog to come from France.

Mark 

Day #	Date	Night Destination	Miles	Climb (')
1	8/12	Paris warm-up ride
2	8/13	Giverny (Seine a Velo, Monet House & Gardens)	59	2361
3	8/14	Villeguier	69	2511
4	8/15	Deauville (Normandy)	55	2065
5	8/16	Bayeux (Normandy: Pegasus Bridge, Sword Beach, Juno Beach, Arromanches-les-Bains)	65	1970
6	8/17	Bayeux (Normandy: Omaha Beach, American Cemetery, Point du Hoc)	45	682
7	8/18	Avranches	65	4204
8	8/19	Mont Saint Michel, Saint-Malo	59	1405
9	8/20	Saint Malo rest day
10	8/21	Dinard, Dinan, Rennes	57	2121
11	8/22	Treillieres, Nantes	65	2965
12	8/23	Loire Valley side trip: Chateau d'Amboises, Chenonceau	40	1306
13	8/24	Loire Valley side trip: Chateau de Cheverny, Chambord, Blois	65	2241
14	8/25	Nantes, Brem Sur Mer	68	1644
15	8/26	La Rochelle	77	1739
16	8/27	Rochefort, Royan	68	1603
17	8/28	Royan rest day
18	8/29	Lege-Cap-Ferret	76	1608
19	8/30	Parentis-en-Born	58	1934
20	8/31	Capbreton	71	2446
21	9/1	Biarritz (last stop France), San Sebastian, Spain	61	3598
22	9/2	San Sebastian SP rest day - fueling up on pintxos & burnt Basque cheesecake
23	9/3	Aretxabaleta, SP	58	3713
24	9/4	Santa Domingo de la Calzada, SP	64	4522
25	9/5	Castrojeriz, SP	74	3919
26	9/6	Mansilla de las Mullas, SP	79	2541
27	9/7	Leon, Santa Catalina de Somoza, SP	57	1844
28	9/8	Villafranca del Bierzo, SP	44	2979
29	9/9	Villafranca del Bierzo SP rest day
30	9/10	Sarria, SP	50	5322
31	9/11	Melide, SP	51	4432
32	9/12	Santiago de Compostela, SP	50	3560
33	9/13	Redondella, Sp	61	3685
34	9/14	Viano do Castelo, Portugal	67	2538
35	9/15	Porto, Portugal	57	2706
		SUBTOTALS	1,835	80,164
		30 days ride, Average daily miles and climb:	61	2672

© Copyright Mark Segal 2025