Vive la revolution

It's ridiculously easy. You swipe your credit card, get an access code and unlock your bike. It's yours for the day, for the price of a coffee. Oh yes, now I'm a Veliber.

It has to be said I'm a cautious one. Several bicycle lanes in Paris are shared with buses and, at times, the city's traffic appears to follow no rules that I can understand. My Danish friend thinks it's a dangerous city for cycling but then, she does come from Denmark.

But we're Velibing for the first time on a Sunday, when the roads alongside the Seine River from Quai Branly to Pont Charles-de-Gaulle are closed to traffic between 9am and 5pm. As part of the "Paris Respire" (literally, "Paris Breathes") program, there is a swag of other interesting quartiers in the city closed to traffic on Sundays, including parts of the Marais; around Rue Mouffetard in the fifth arrondissement; and the Canal Saint-Martin. And the program is extending all the time.

We join prams, rollerbladers, fellow Velibers and a pack of silver foxes in full racing regalia cruising alongside the banks of the Seine. We pass all the city's landmarks - the Ile Saint-Louis, the turrets of the mediaeval Conciergerie, the clock on the Musee d'Orsay facade and the extravagantly ornate Pont Alexandre III.

The ride also throws up some surprises. Heading towards Bercy, we come across a rave party in full swing on one of the many "peniche" boats moored along the Seine. It's noon on Sunday and we're not sure if they are warming up or still coming down from last night.

Nearby, we pass under a stone archway to see a bunch of homeless men who have set up couches and cooking equipment. We have the odd feeling of intruding on someone's living room.

And then we make the mistake of heading down a ramp to the cobblestone banks of the river. Ten minutes of bone-jarring riding later, we are desperately looking for an exit. The Velibs are heavy and there is no way we can haul them up the flights of stairs we keep seeing. Luckily, we finally find a ramp. We won't make that mistake a second time.

Thrilled by our first foray, we head to the Marais for lunch.

This densely populated arrondissement, Paris's version of Greenwich Village, is far better for walking than cycling. So we park our bikes on the nearest Velib stand (they really are everywhere) and hoof it to my favourite restaurant, Chez Marianne.

The Marais, on the last weekend of the summer holidays, is in full swing. Queues for ice-creams are long. A girl with striking red hair is sitting at an outside cafe table with a pint of beer. A group of muscled capoiera performers literally stops traffic - the tallest among them standing in the middle of the road and holding out his palm like a lollipop man - so their back-flipping finale is able to be performed in the street.

A shared plate of Middle Eastern dips and felafel mopped up with pita bread at the outside terrace of Chez Marianne later and we're ready to get back on the bike.

By now, Paris is in an afternoon torpor - the heat, the aperitifs and long lunches have lulled the city into submission.

Everyone knows that tomorrow is the official "rentree", when students go back to school and the city reactivates after the holidays. Parisians are supping on the last of their summer freedom.

Emboldened, we decide to explore the backstreets of Paris while the lion sleeps. The eighth arrondissement, known for its offices, is virtually deserted. We wheel around and pop out onto a main artery, realising then that it's the Champs-Elysees. We spin down alongside tourists, cross over the Pont de la Concorde and explore the backstreets of the Left Bank, which are just as quiet.

There's a Velib stand not far from our hotel and we put our "horses" to rest. I lie down on the bed. About this time of day in Paris, I'm usually trying to soothe my aching feet in the bath and regretting that I'm too shattered, yet again, to go out at night.

But thanks to the Velib, I'm feeling unusually refreshed and energetic. So, where to for dinner?

Need to know

- There are about 20,000 Velib bikes in Paris, at 1800 stations, roughly every 300 metres. A one-day ticket can be bought for €1.70 ($2.30) by swiping your credit card. A guarantee of €150 is added each transaction, though it is only debited if the bike is not returned. You can also buy tickets online, en.velib.paris.fr.

- For information about Paris Respire, where certain roads are closed on Sundays and public holidays, go to paris.fr and type "Paris Respire" into the search engine. From there, click on "consulter la rubrique" to see a list of maps showing the car-free areas.