Flying Pigeon
08-29-2012, 06:37 PM
Thank you for writing all the posts about the Alps. They have been so inspiring that:
a) I had to join this forum
b) I had to go there and see it for myself
Unfortunately I couldn't go for very long.. not with my full time job and a baby on the way on the way in December. But I did carve out 12 days for a trip last month (sick days I think they're called) and my pregnant wife was excited to go as well. We decide to base ourselves near Annecy and rent a car for the whole time. For a bike I took my Ritchey Breakaway which worked perfectly and saw a lot of action in the 34x29t combination.
When we were planning an itinerary for a trip in July there were a couple days that coincided with the Tour. Strangely enough we treated this as something to avoid, since we didn't want to be around so many people and all the traffic jams. So intentionally the closest we got was arriving 2 days after the stage crossing the Madeleine and up the Croix de Fer. I did see lots of 'Allez Voecklers' painted on the roads. And I found out French TV coverage blows ours away.
As much as possible, my mission was to knock off a lot of famous cols. I was treating this as my last chance for many years - facing all the diaper-changing and sleepless nights I have ahead of me. Oddly when I came back from those rides it turned out that it was my wife who was actually more tired a lot of the time. We would cruise around the little villages and then she would need a nap. She could get up and rally, but not for more than 2 hours at a time. Having a baby is hors categorie folks!
We had some really great times in Annecy which is just awesome. It's a gorgeous town on a turquoise jewel of a lake surrounded by huge mountains. There are some lucky cyclists in that town! Another big highlight was near Mt Blanc when we took the telepherique from Chamonix up to l'Aiguille de Midi. It is a short trip up on a cable car until you step off and you're surrounded by glaciers and huge granite spires. Just unreal - a lifetime highlight. We also got down to St Jean de Maurienne, where the hotel owner remembers our own beloved Paceline darling Lance staying there. The draw is all the big famous hills, but I also checked out the cartoon-like switchbacks of the Montvernier (http://i1167.photobucket.com/albums/q626/discardedstrings/lacets_de_montvernier.jpg). And then Briancon, which may have the biggest motherlode of killer riding -- probably where I would pick if I could have a base in the French Alps.
With some time to look back and reflect, the big-marquis climbs like the Galibier, Madeleine and l'Alpe de Huez were cool for being a pilgrimage (hill-grimage?) that took me 25 years to do finally. Bu they weren't nearly as satisfying as the 1-lane roads with lots of solitude like Sabot and l'Arpettaz. The best thing is when the road seems made for bicycles above all else, and my idea of paradise doesn't have tour buses and hundreds of motorcycles.
So I wanted to share a really cool lesser-known one that I searched out between Martigny and Lac Leman in Switzerland called Alp Rionda (http://i1167.photobucket.com/albums/q626/discardedstrings/Rionda_Lavey_les_Bains_profile.gif).
One thing that is a blessing (or a curse if you're a masochist) about roads in the Alps is that they very seldom go beyond 8%. Not this one! The stats are: 11.2%/15.3km long/1715m gain/2157m maximum - longer and higher than Mt Washington at a similar grade. A charming beauty.. and a monster. On to the pics, I give you this Swiss legbreaker:
http://i1167.photobucket.com/albums/q626/discardedstrings/rionda-5.jpg
http://i1167.photobucket.com/albums/q626/discardedstrings/rionda-3.jpg
http://i1167.photobucket.com/albums/q626/discardedstrings/rionda-1.jpg
http://i1167.photobucket.com/albums/q626/discardedstrings/rionda-4.jpg
http://i1167.photobucket.com/albums/q626/discardedstrings/rionda-2.jpg
a) I had to join this forum
b) I had to go there and see it for myself
Unfortunately I couldn't go for very long.. not with my full time job and a baby on the way on the way in December. But I did carve out 12 days for a trip last month (sick days I think they're called) and my pregnant wife was excited to go as well. We decide to base ourselves near Annecy and rent a car for the whole time. For a bike I took my Ritchey Breakaway which worked perfectly and saw a lot of action in the 34x29t combination.
When we were planning an itinerary for a trip in July there were a couple days that coincided with the Tour. Strangely enough we treated this as something to avoid, since we didn't want to be around so many people and all the traffic jams. So intentionally the closest we got was arriving 2 days after the stage crossing the Madeleine and up the Croix de Fer. I did see lots of 'Allez Voecklers' painted on the roads. And I found out French TV coverage blows ours away.
As much as possible, my mission was to knock off a lot of famous cols. I was treating this as my last chance for many years - facing all the diaper-changing and sleepless nights I have ahead of me. Oddly when I came back from those rides it turned out that it was my wife who was actually more tired a lot of the time. We would cruise around the little villages and then she would need a nap. She could get up and rally, but not for more than 2 hours at a time. Having a baby is hors categorie folks!
We had some really great times in Annecy which is just awesome. It's a gorgeous town on a turquoise jewel of a lake surrounded by huge mountains. There are some lucky cyclists in that town! Another big highlight was near Mt Blanc when we took the telepherique from Chamonix up to l'Aiguille de Midi. It is a short trip up on a cable car until you step off and you're surrounded by glaciers and huge granite spires. Just unreal - a lifetime highlight. We also got down to St Jean de Maurienne, where the hotel owner remembers our own beloved Paceline darling Lance staying there. The draw is all the big famous hills, but I also checked out the cartoon-like switchbacks of the Montvernier (http://i1167.photobucket.com/albums/q626/discardedstrings/lacets_de_montvernier.jpg). And then Briancon, which may have the biggest motherlode of killer riding -- probably where I would pick if I could have a base in the French Alps.
With some time to look back and reflect, the big-marquis climbs like the Galibier, Madeleine and l'Alpe de Huez were cool for being a pilgrimage (hill-grimage?) that took me 25 years to do finally. Bu they weren't nearly as satisfying as the 1-lane roads with lots of solitude like Sabot and l'Arpettaz. The best thing is when the road seems made for bicycles above all else, and my idea of paradise doesn't have tour buses and hundreds of motorcycles.
So I wanted to share a really cool lesser-known one that I searched out between Martigny and Lac Leman in Switzerland called Alp Rionda (http://i1167.photobucket.com/albums/q626/discardedstrings/Rionda_Lavey_les_Bains_profile.gif).
One thing that is a blessing (or a curse if you're a masochist) about roads in the Alps is that they very seldom go beyond 8%. Not this one! The stats are: 11.2%/15.3km long/1715m gain/2157m maximum - longer and higher than Mt Washington at a similar grade. A charming beauty.. and a monster. On to the pics, I give you this Swiss legbreaker:
http://i1167.photobucket.com/albums/q626/discardedstrings/rionda-5.jpg
http://i1167.photobucket.com/albums/q626/discardedstrings/rionda-3.jpg
http://i1167.photobucket.com/albums/q626/discardedstrings/rionda-1.jpg
http://i1167.photobucket.com/albums/q626/discardedstrings/rionda-4.jpg
http://i1167.photobucket.com/albums/q626/discardedstrings/rionda-2.jpg