Top Ten French Cycling Specific French Phases to visit France part 1

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Watching the Tour De France in person is a dream come true for most cyclist, however, if you can’t speak the language, your dream can turn into a nightmare.? I lived in France and cycled up the most famous mountains in the Tour.? The French Alps are beautiful and easily accessible by bike.? There are dedicated bike lanes and paths to the famous mountain passes.? Moreover, thy have hourly trains so if you bite off too much you can jump on the train and get back home.

The main problem is that almost nobody speaks English.? The common belief is that French people are rude and can speak French but choose not this is only true in Paris where city slickers live.? The people in the countryside are super nice.? I broke down multiple times in the middle of nowhere and people gave me a place to stay.? In America, I would probably get shot.?

Most Public Services are in French

The TRE or regional train and often the station managers only speak French.? So if you are on the train and they call for Brian?on they will announce it in French but not in English.? I missed my stop a few times as the announcer spoke so quickly that I could not understand what he said.? So here are a few sentences that are cycling-specific.

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1.?????? Bonjour, Comment ca va and ca va bien

Hello, How are you?? This is just polite to say when you meet someone as in the train station.? You say Ca Va bien which means I am doing well.? Many times if you say this and they see you are a foreigner the locals will be impressed that you have taken time to learn the language this is the same for any country.

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2.?????? Ou est …? Where is…?

Where is the toilet Ou est toilet.? Ou est la glare where is the train station. ?Ou est la Boulanger where is the bakery?? This phrase might be dangerous to your watts per kilo.?

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3.?????? Combien…? How much

How much is important for obvious reasons.? If you want to buy something you can ask and use your fingers for numbers.? Numbers is French are very difficult as they add numbers 90 is quatre vingt dix which is 80 plus 10.?

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4.?????? Potable, non-potable drinkable, not drinkable

There are plenty of springs along the road to refill your water bottles.? Some Fountains or Fontaine, you can drink the water others you cannot.? The spring will be labelled potable or nonportable which is useful to know.

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5.?????? A droite A gauche… right and left

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A droite means to the right and A gauche means to the left.? One way to remember this is that Charlie Gaul was a leftist So left gauche.?

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The bottom line…

A little bit of French goes a long way.? You are far out in the country and most people are not used to speaking to foreigners and they don’t know English even at the train station.? The more French you know the better you will be treated.? This is the basics next post I will get into some cycling specific language.? ??