Velib bikes - I was in Paris recently and interested to see Velib bikes widely in use. These are the grey machines that you can rent for a short time before dropping them off at another of the very numerous Velib parking bays. You can read about the system on Wikipedia (yes, a few thousand have already gone hooky) but what surprised me was how nice they looked, especially when being ridden. The intergrated lighting system is very neat and the rear mudguard and rear light very tidy and elegant. There's a pleasing curve to the handlebars with twist grip Shimano Nexus three-speed hand grips. Tyres are Schwalbe and you get a basket for the baguette too.

Champs Elysees - Paris was incredibly quiet on this first weekend of the new year, but the Champs Elysees is always busy and has become a cross between London's Oxford Street and the Mall. It's fun to walk along and, if nothing else, you appreciate how hard the Tour riders are going on the long drag (must be getting on for a kilometre) to the Arc de Triomphe. To hold 30mph plus up here on the front of the bunch would take some serious wattage.

I waited for ages to get a shot of a Velib bike in action but ended with a pic of some in-line skaters on a little road along the Seine, which looked to be closed to traffic on a Sunday. As skating is a sister sport to cycling and this little crew looked great in team time trial mode, I thought it merited inclusion. Have to say about one racing cyclist in the centre of Paris the whole weekend