velotel
02-24-2019, 08:21 AM
Wrapped up planning for a couple of tours this year, the first one in August, the second in September, a third one for October, a hill and vineyard cruise, still in the works. The August tour all mixed dirt and pavement, September all pavement. Both are stunning. Actually they’re beyond stunning but I might be biased. Thoroughly enjoyed myself planning them. Also frustrating, I wanted to go right then and start riding everything. Difficult as they’re buried in snow.
Crazy tours but not because of me, they’re crazy because of what will be ridden. As in if you were only going to do one trip to Europe to ride, this is the trip you want to do (assuming you enjoy climbing)(also assuming you enjoy away from the usual kind of stuff tours do). Which one depends on your taste in surfaces. Or both if you’re bi like me; I ride ‘em both, though admittedly perhaps a bit of preference for the mixed terrain.
Some of the paved cols may never have flicked across your radar screen, like the Nivolet, Sampeyre, Faunier, Lombarde. Two will instantly be recognized, la Bonette and Izoard. The others might ring bells but lightly, Allos, Champs, Cayolle, Vars, Agnol. Summits are high, the lowest Vars at 2108, the highest la Bonette at 2802 tailed by Agnol 2744, Nivolet 2612, and Faunier 2511. All bucket list caliber.
The mixed tour gets high too. Sommeiller 2993, Jafferau 2800, Strada dell’Assietta between 2500 to 2000 meters for something like 25 K, Buffère 2427, Plateau d’Emparis 2200, Finestre 2176, and the lowest the Colombardo 1890. More bucket list caliber, if bucket lists for gravel exist.
They’re long, 12 days for the paved, 11 days for the mixed. They’re long because I’m cheap, or maybe economical is a better word. I figure given the price of a flight to Europe might as well max out the value by reducing the per day cost, as in more days for the same flight cost. A second reason is because I’d be planning out some ride and think, well hell, we’re here already and just right there is another great ride so we’d be nuts not to do it. The tours lengthened. Could have been longer but eventually I said enough!
Neither one is point to point. I like hopping around bagging cols, most of which are in relatively close proximity. One of the beauties of riding in the Alps with its concentration of big climbs. A franco-italian adventure with time in both countries.
No you won’t be saddled with some old guy leading the tour from off the back! I’ll be 74 this spring and harbor no delusions of my speed on a bike in climbs. The riding guide will be young, strong, and fast, or at least as fast as needed. I’ll ride too when I’m not driving so if some people sign up who are looking for a more gentlemanly pace, I’ll be there.
We’re not racing, just riding in gorgeous places. One good climb per day. I don’t do epic. I do fun. But each tour does have one particularly long day with lots of vertical. I attempted to avoid that but nothing worked out correctly so…
The road tour’s long day does 3 cols, 120 K, 3600 vertical of climbing. The mixed tour’s 80 K and 3000 vertical of up. Both tours have a sort of rest day part way through. Sort of rest day because for those who share my concept of a rest day, we’ll ride but something easy without much climbing, a rolling rest through the countryside.
Nights will be in a mix of hotels. The biggest challenge in planning tours like these is lodging. It’s not like there are hotels everywhere when you’re kind of off the beaten track plus the needs for a bike tour are a wee bit extra. Like somewhere to securely park the van and the trailer it’ll be towing. A restaurant near at hand if there isn’t one in the hotel. Breakfast, a good one. And enough rooms for a small group. And lots of hot water!
Dates, dirt tour arrival and pickup at the Geneva airport 18 August, delivery and departure from same airport 29 August. Road tour arrival at the Nice airport 8 September, delivery and departure same airport 20 September. Those are the airports that work best for each tour. Geneva could have been Lyon but Geneva seems to work well for flights from the states. That’s what I use for going back to Colorado, either Geneva - London – Denver or Geneva – Frankfort – Denver. Geneva’s also easier for pickup and delivery.
Pricing, the road tour 2950 euros, dirt tour 2700 euros. Prices are not absolutely fixed as a few things need to be verified but if they change they won’t change by much. Decisions need to be made relatively quickly because places on the tours are limited and in order to guarantee the lodging, rooms will have to be firmly booked early. The latter is due to the lack of hotels in many of the locales. August is also vacation time so lots of demand, early September less demand.
As an aside, if someone’s spouse, a hiker rather than a rider, wanted to come there are a ton of hiking possibilities throughout the tours. Europeans are big on having their hiking trails well signed.
If this kind of riding, paved and dirt, appeals to you, I’d say jump on it because it’s not like tours offering these rides are common. Actually I don’t think anyone has ever proposed anything like either of these two tours.
To put the difficulty of the tours in perspective, I’m planning on riding both of them, or at least whenever I’m not having to move the van to the next hotel. If I didn’t have to drive from time to time I’d ride everything, albeit at my own pace, a gentleman’s pace so to speak. And if I can ride ‘em, they can’t be all that hard! Then again I have to admit that long road day gives me a mental hiccup.
Okay, enough for now. I’ll do separate posts for each tour with more details on rides and costs.
Crazy tours but not because of me, they’re crazy because of what will be ridden. As in if you were only going to do one trip to Europe to ride, this is the trip you want to do (assuming you enjoy climbing)(also assuming you enjoy away from the usual kind of stuff tours do). Which one depends on your taste in surfaces. Or both if you’re bi like me; I ride ‘em both, though admittedly perhaps a bit of preference for the mixed terrain.
Some of the paved cols may never have flicked across your radar screen, like the Nivolet, Sampeyre, Faunier, Lombarde. Two will instantly be recognized, la Bonette and Izoard. The others might ring bells but lightly, Allos, Champs, Cayolle, Vars, Agnol. Summits are high, the lowest Vars at 2108, the highest la Bonette at 2802 tailed by Agnol 2744, Nivolet 2612, and Faunier 2511. All bucket list caliber.
The mixed tour gets high too. Sommeiller 2993, Jafferau 2800, Strada dell’Assietta between 2500 to 2000 meters for something like 25 K, Buffère 2427, Plateau d’Emparis 2200, Finestre 2176, and the lowest the Colombardo 1890. More bucket list caliber, if bucket lists for gravel exist.
They’re long, 12 days for the paved, 11 days for the mixed. They’re long because I’m cheap, or maybe economical is a better word. I figure given the price of a flight to Europe might as well max out the value by reducing the per day cost, as in more days for the same flight cost. A second reason is because I’d be planning out some ride and think, well hell, we’re here already and just right there is another great ride so we’d be nuts not to do it. The tours lengthened. Could have been longer but eventually I said enough!
Neither one is point to point. I like hopping around bagging cols, most of which are in relatively close proximity. One of the beauties of riding in the Alps with its concentration of big climbs. A franco-italian adventure with time in both countries.
No you won’t be saddled with some old guy leading the tour from off the back! I’ll be 74 this spring and harbor no delusions of my speed on a bike in climbs. The riding guide will be young, strong, and fast, or at least as fast as needed. I’ll ride too when I’m not driving so if some people sign up who are looking for a more gentlemanly pace, I’ll be there.
We’re not racing, just riding in gorgeous places. One good climb per day. I don’t do epic. I do fun. But each tour does have one particularly long day with lots of vertical. I attempted to avoid that but nothing worked out correctly so…
The road tour’s long day does 3 cols, 120 K, 3600 vertical of climbing. The mixed tour’s 80 K and 3000 vertical of up. Both tours have a sort of rest day part way through. Sort of rest day because for those who share my concept of a rest day, we’ll ride but something easy without much climbing, a rolling rest through the countryside.
Nights will be in a mix of hotels. The biggest challenge in planning tours like these is lodging. It’s not like there are hotels everywhere when you’re kind of off the beaten track plus the needs for a bike tour are a wee bit extra. Like somewhere to securely park the van and the trailer it’ll be towing. A restaurant near at hand if there isn’t one in the hotel. Breakfast, a good one. And enough rooms for a small group. And lots of hot water!
Dates, dirt tour arrival and pickup at the Geneva airport 18 August, delivery and departure from same airport 29 August. Road tour arrival at the Nice airport 8 September, delivery and departure same airport 20 September. Those are the airports that work best for each tour. Geneva could have been Lyon but Geneva seems to work well for flights from the states. That’s what I use for going back to Colorado, either Geneva - London – Denver or Geneva – Frankfort – Denver. Geneva’s also easier for pickup and delivery.
Pricing, the road tour 2950 euros, dirt tour 2700 euros. Prices are not absolutely fixed as a few things need to be verified but if they change they won’t change by much. Decisions need to be made relatively quickly because places on the tours are limited and in order to guarantee the lodging, rooms will have to be firmly booked early. The latter is due to the lack of hotels in many of the locales. August is also vacation time so lots of demand, early September less demand.
As an aside, if someone’s spouse, a hiker rather than a rider, wanted to come there are a ton of hiking possibilities throughout the tours. Europeans are big on having their hiking trails well signed.
If this kind of riding, paved and dirt, appeals to you, I’d say jump on it because it’s not like tours offering these rides are common. Actually I don’t think anyone has ever proposed anything like either of these two tours.
To put the difficulty of the tours in perspective, I’m planning on riding both of them, or at least whenever I’m not having to move the van to the next hotel. If I didn’t have to drive from time to time I’d ride everything, albeit at my own pace, a gentleman’s pace so to speak. And if I can ride ‘em, they can’t be all that hard! Then again I have to admit that long road day gives me a mental hiccup.
Okay, enough for now. I’ll do separate posts for each tour with more details on rides and costs.