Going to the Paris Olympics road races

[Beninthesortingoffice]

The routes have been published https://www.paris2024.org/en/sport/road-cycling/ and apart from the starts and ends are free to go and see I think. I have teenagers so it seems a good way for them to experience the Olympics.

Overnight bus to Paris, local transport to somewhere to watch, and overnight bus back again?

Seems a reasonable and not too expensive idea to me.

Any thoughts? Advice? I guess time trial would give more to watch. But I don't think it really matters what we do, we watch people whoosh past on bikes and have been to the olympics.

Any I like watching the cycling so a bonus for me.

Sorry nothing useful to say other than it sounds brilliant!

We (dh, ds and me) drove to London from Glasgow in 2012 and stayed with a lovely MNer so that we could watch the road races as they passed relatively close to her place. It was a fantastic experience - both the Men's and Women's Road Race (two successive days). It's no just a "whoosh" of cyclists: it's all the crowds in advance, the multiple motorcyclists, all the support and commissaire cars and followed by camera motorcyclists, then the peloton then yet more team cars.

We were able to walk around the part of London they live in after the race and soak in the atmosphere and see some of the TdF style decorations.

We'd also taken down 2 bikes (all we could fit into the car) so on the third day, we went off to Box Hill for dh and ds to cycle some of the circuit. Unfortunately Box Hill itself was still closed, even to cyclists, so they were only able to cycle some of the other parts of the route in the vicinity.

We also saw Marianna Voss' service van on that day (not sure what it was doing there ) but even though we didn't see her that day, it added to the experience.

So yes, it would be well worth it

Personally, I think there's more atmosphere at a Road Race than watching the Time Trial - having done both at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow (although I enjoyed both).

We’ve been to watch a couple of stages of the Tour, not the olympics. Prepare for any weather, one year it was torrential rain and icy cold, in July. Go to the toilet before choosing your spot so you don’t lose your place a during loo break. I’ve not looked at the route, but if there’s a hill I’d go there to watch.
I just love the atmosphere and meeting loads of cycling enthusiasts, I even had my photo taken for a cycle magazine one year, well just a photo of my king of the mountain socks.
Have a great time.