19 June 2025

5MV-S68 – French roads are simply better?
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https://www.buymeacoffee.com/fiveminutevelo
Some would say I’m talking the UK down, I would say I was being objectively realistic. What is your experience of cycling on roads in other countries?

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About the 5MV channel
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My name is Terry and I love cycling. I have named my channel “Five Minute Velo” (5MV). I have called it 5MV because the videos I upload will (mostly) last no longer than five minutes. Each video will cover just one subject that is described in the title. Although the channel is mainly about cycling on the road, I will also cover some light (gravel) off road riding, cycle touring and ebiking. No matter what, much of the advice will be pertinent to many branches of the sport/pastime.

I welcome constructive comments that will help me improve the videos that I produce and upload.

There may be some dry humour in some of the videos, so dry it may not always be obvious :-).

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My Strava profile can be found here:
https://www.strava.com/athletes/7723982

Cambridge Cycling Club website:
http://www.cambridge-cycling-club.org.uk/

Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/fiveminutevelo/

Photos of 2019 tour of low countries:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/3ierczDfurM1gTGi7

Photos of 2025 tour of Spain and France:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/Sgy8d9b4fxGZ18x49

Random cycling photos (will be updated from time to time):
https://photos.app.goo.gl/VZBhCWcQZtynsJF1A

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Terry

i’ve been cycling through first of all northern Spain and now southern and into central France for the last week and one of the things I’ve really noticed are the lack of potholes in the roads i’ve been looking out for potholes just to show you how bad they are over here however in that 500 kilometers I really haven’t found very much so I’ve stopped today to record some of the worst potholes I’ve seen right so I’m just riding down an average small road in France and I came across this i’ll put my foot there so you can see the size of it it’s probably about 20 mm deep and about 150 mm across there are a few other small irregularities here there’s another dip here just where somebody would be cycling um it doesn’t look much on the video it’s about 20 mm deep but it’s quite smooth so you would probably hardly notice it on a bike however further up here there’s a much much more severe pothole and that is it it’s uh about a meter long two or 300 mm wide and about 20 mm deep that is one of the worst potholes I’ve seen over here in the UK that would just be called a road irregularity so that’s how bad the road irregularities are in France not bad at all i wish roads were like this in the UK i’m now back in the UK and experiencing what my local roads have to offer and in all of the 1,500 kilometers that I cycled through Spain and France I never experienced potholes or road defects let’s say like this this one is so big I can’t even get it in the camera there are more holes up here gravel all over the place and many of these holes are considered to be quite dangerous not only for us cyclists but also motorcyclists and potentially could damage a car’s tires if the French can keep their roads in such good condition why can’t we in the UK this is part of the New Haven to Brighton cycle route