cycling trip to Alps/Pyrenees - how/where to begin?

[tv_vt]

I've been thinking about a trip to ride some cols in the Alps for a while now, but don't really know where to start in terms of planning a trip like that. I'd really appreciate hearing from folks who've done it. Open at this point to both guided tours like Velosport Vacations, or just renting a place and riding with some friends. Grenoble seems like a good place to start, in terms of locations.

If I were to do the Pyrenees instead, what would you recommend?

I've watched too many Tour videos and now have this nagging wish to ride some of these climbs.

Thanks for sharing your experiences.

Thom

[Kirk007]

Grenoble is a goog start place for Alps. Search for grenoble and cycling etc - there's a good website with route maps etc. Bourg d'Oisans is a good base that is close by.

For tours, highly recommend Erickson Cycletours. Glen has ben doing them for years and they are a great bargain - 15-16 days for the price of most 8 day trips. Serious riding, good but not over the top lodging/meals. Less hand holding than the TREK, Carmichael etc appear to be.

[kenw]

REI Adventures

[Tim]

If you're interested in cycling in the Pyranees, in France, check out these folks

http://www.pyractif.com/

It's a small friendly company based in Bertren (look on a map- it's directly north of Luchon, which is on the France/Spain border) within riding distance of most of the great climbs in the Pyranees, and within a short drive of the Tourmalet, and others. I been 3 times to France in recent years and stayed with Pyractif - always great cycling, good food and great people to ride with- and not crazy expensive either.

[bocarider]

I am almost done planning out a trip to the French Alps for this coming August. We are going to do a week of riding on our own and then a second week with Trek Travel, doing their Great Climbs of the Tour trip, which gets you Col du Forclaz, the Telegraph, Galibier, les Deux Alps and Alp du Huez. Cycling on our own will take us to Grenoble to ride through the Vercors region and then to Megev to ride the Columbier, the Avarice and the Croix Frere.

Two sites that I have found invaluable for planning the week we are going to be riding on our own are:

http://www.grenoblecycling.com/

and

http://www.cycling-challenge.com/

Both of these guys are Canadian exp-pats living in the area and both of them describe their cycling experiences with routes descriptions, maps and photos that have been really helpful to me in planning out the rides we want to do.

The guy from cycling-challenge.com has also posted a lot of his rides on bikemap.net, where you can search by region, so you can find a lot of other people’s routes.

So far I have mapped out about 5 rides for our first week, using ridewithgps.com (I find that site downloads best to my Garmin). PM me and I will be happy to give you links to my routes so far.

Doing both the Alps and the Pyrenees in one trip is pretty daunting as there were so many places we wanted to ride in the Alps, that we had to be pretty selective. We are saving the Pyrenees for another trip.

[robin3mj]

Rent a house, and get some Michelin maps (the green guides).
The rest is gravy.

[Dekonick]

Rent a house, and get some Michelin maps (the green guides).
The rest is gravy.

Thumbs up!

[93legendti]

Breaking Away- I did an Alps trip with Greg and Co. and the organization was first rate. Lots of classic climbs on one trip.

[jlwdm]

I had a great experience with Breaking Away also. Went for the last 14 days of the 2001 Tour de France. We stayed a few days in the little town at the base of the Tourmalet and Luz Ardiden - great spot to ride a lot of climbs in the Pyrenees.

Jeff

[jabbahop]

they did a Serotta owner's club tour a couple of summers ago around Mont Blanc. First rate.

http://www.gpm10.com/

[tv_vt]

Thank you all! I need to start doing some homework...

[texbike]

It's pretty easy. We've been over several times and have done it ourselves.

Here are my two suggestions for the areas that you mention:

For the Alps, I would suggest Annecy, France. It is a beautiful resort town and just South of Geneva Switzerland. It's super easy to fly into Geneva and drive down. It's been a resort town for a LONG time and as has a tremendous number of great places to stay. On our last trip in 2009 we stayed at a place above the old town across from the castle. It was very reasonable and had quick easy access to the old town, restaurants, and incredible cycling. Lake Annecy is one of the cleanest lakes in Europe and is really beautiful. I can't say enough good things about the area.

As for the Pyrenees, I would suggest Bagneres-de-Bigorre. It is a beautiful little spa town (since Roman times) that is close to Lourdes and has easy access by bike to the Tourmalet, Aspin, and La Mongie. Again, it has a wide choice of accommodations, restaurants, and incredible cycling.

Enjoy your trip. It's a wonderful and beautiful country!

Texbike

[cnighbor1]

Virtual alps has photos of ever mountain pass in all europe that can be riden on road.
<http://www.aukadia.net/alps/index.htm>
than Trento Bike Pages has write ups on riding alps.
<http://www.trentobike.org/>
My suggestion Fly into Zurich Switzerland There is trai station below take train to some place in the alps stay there and ride than do it again than go back to Zurich. Genova is were a lot of the Tour of france climbs are. Just north of the city

[Buzz]

Here's another option and a great one at that:

http://www.cinghiale.com/tours/alps-gorges-aug-27-sept-4-2011-2

[khjr]

.

[khjr]

My remarks regarding my experiences on their Geneva to Grenoble, and Grenoble to Ventoux, tours are in this thread

Response to Bumble Bee Dave (http://forums.thepaceline.net/showpost.php?p=500917&postcount=44)

Pics (http://forums.thepaceline.net/showpost.php?p=501125&postcount=46)

[BengeBoy]

The founder of one of our local cycling clubs has written a guide to the Pyrenees, leads tours, and also features self-guided tours.

Lots of detail here:

http://www.bestofthepyrenees.com/

[rustychisel]

My remarks regarding my experiences on their Geneva to Grenoble, and Grenoble to Ventoux, tours are in this thread

Response to Bumble Bee Dave (http://forums.thepaceline.net/showpost.php?p=500917&postcount=44)

Pics (http://forums.thepaceline.net/showpost.php?p=501125&postcount=46)


That is an excellent summation, so I'll only add that it depends on circumstances.

Organised tours are great if you wanna ride, stop off, eat, ride. You get in the mindset, day to day.

If you want to be a little less structured and want to be a bit more tourist, then the suggestion of renting a house and getting a map strikes a chord with me. Depends also if you go with a partner and whether they cycle, etc. Have to say my preference is for the Alps over the Pyrenees, but YMMV. It's all a blast.

[Tom Byrnes]

You also cannot go wrong by doing a cycling tour with the Giant of Verona, Eros Poli: 6 Tour de France, 4 Giro d'Italia, 4 Vuelta, 9 Paris-Roubaix, 9 Tour of the Flanders, 1984 Olympic Gold Medal winner and winner of 1984 Tour de France Stage over Mt. Ventoux.

http://www.eros-poli.com/strutturaEng.html

http://www.eros-poli.com/erosPoliEng.html

[Buzz]

Tom is right. Eros is definitely the best.

[572cv]

TV.... we went to the Pyrenees in September, stayed near Bagneres de Bigorre and did many of the grand cols. The area between Lannemezan and Bagneres is called Les Barronnies, and provides wonderful local cycling as well as fine views of the higher mountains. Our formula is to rent a house with friends, and foray out from there. This was one of our all time best cycling trips to France.

[LouDeeter]

http://www.kingofthemountains.co.uk/ is the place to stay and base your exploration of the French Alps. Owned and run by an English couple, Guy and Helen, just a few kilometers from the base of L'Alpe D'Huez. They will arrange for a rental bike or help you assemble your bike if you ship. Both are accomplished cyclists. Meals are served family style at dinner. Lunch is available, but you are usually out riding during that meal. Email me and I can provide pictures of the accommodations. loudeeter@aol.com. Check out their website for details. Reasonably priced as well.

[tv_vt]

Do most of you bring your own bike, or have you rented one somewhere over there? I keep hearing about high costs for bringing bikes on planes, although I think I have seen someone mentions they go free on overseas flights.

Thanks,

Thom

[robin3mj]

Do most of you bring your own bike, or have you rented one somewhere over there? I keep hearing about high costs for bringing bikes on planes, although I think I have seen someone mentions they go free on overseas flights.

Thanks,

Thom


Depends on the airline. Some are $$$, some are more reasonable. BA doesn’t charge specifically for bikes, but charges around $40 for the 2nd bag.
I took my bike in a box to SW France last year and while it was nice to have my own bike, it took up most of our tiny rental car and was a PITA on the non-cycling portions of our trip.

This year I am going to try and rent a bike, and just bring my own pedals and saddle.

[572cv]

Do most of you bring your own bike, or have you rented one somewhere over there? I keep hearing about high costs for bringing bikes on planes, although I think I have seen someone mentions they go free on overseas flights.

Thanks,

Thom

Airlines have gone back and forth about cost for bikes in the last few years. We had our bikes set up with S&S couplers and bought the hard shell boxes for them, and it has been terrific: to have our own bikes, to fit into small rental cars, to avoid airline charges anywhere, although there is the extra bag charge for anything. We have not found very many places with good rental bikes available, though some of the organized bike tour places will surely have them. There is not consistency about the costing among different airlines, either. Look into that ahead of time. Usually, the website for the airline is clear about bike costs. Some airlines are better than others about the care and handling of the bikes. We have flown Air France with good luck from both Boston and Montreal. Air Transat out of Montreal also, and they fly non stop to places like Lyons and Toulouse. No change over at CDG or elsewhere means greater likelihood of all your stuff getting there with you. Good prices too.

[MadRocketSci]

rent a van. get a couple people, one of whom if they are not cycling inclined can be on-call sag driver.

book hotels in some of these places:

Albertville (ie, hotel millon) good access to Col de Saises, cormet de roseland, etc

Valloire - at the top of col de telegraphe, bottom of Galibier

Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne - has a cycling hotel iirc

Bourg d'Oisans/Huez - top or bottom of L'alpe

longchamps - halfway up the Madeleine...

Pussy - never been there, saw a sign for it, someone should check it out....

[LouDeeter]

I asked Guy and Helen at King of the Mountains Inn to rent a bike for me. The price was 20 Euros for the two days I planned to use it, to climb Alpe d'Huez. I ended up climbing the mountain the first day. The bike was the correct size, aluminum with carbon fork. The group was a cheaper Shimano group, but with brake lever shifters. Wheels were decent. Not the lightest bike on the mountain that day, but it got me up and down. I noticed similar rental bikes in the town and in the towns around Mount Ventoux, which I didn't climb. I took my own helmet, shoes, clothing, pedals, water bottles.

[texbike]

Bourg d'Oisans/Huez - top or bottom of L'alpe

lPussy - never been there, saw a sign for it, someone should check it out....

Another vote for Bd'O (beautiful scenery and incredible riding). I didn't make it to the other place mentioned but would love to. :)

Texbike

[LouDeeter]

One more thing to add that might be obvious. If you rent a bike, remember you are depending upon someone else having checked that bike out. You really have no idea what stresses that bike has seen, like you do if you ride your own bike. You aren't likely to hurt yourself going up the mountain, but, coming down, I wouldn't take a rental bike to the limit on steep mountain descents. Too much risk.

[velotel]

My perspective is going to be considerably different since I live here, 17 years now, than those who have already responded. I also live near Grenoble and can say without hesitation that the immediate region here serves up outrageous riding. But, that said, if what you're dreaming of riding are the classic climbs featured over the years in the TdF, Grenoble isn't the place to base out of. I'll also say right away that I know nothing about the Pyranees.

Everyone is of course immediately attracted by Bourg d'Oisans. Nice town but the riding is actually rather limited. The climb to Alpe d'Huez is only famous because of the TdF, not because of the ride itself. Personally I find it rather boring, too much traffic, limited views. The climb to the Col de Sarenne on the other hand is a great ride, also way hard. Super views, no traffic, best done up, not down. The out and back to la Bérarde is also a fine ride with little traffic and all the mountain views you could want. The ride to Galibier via the Lautaret would be a fun ride if those damn tunnels weren't there. Long, narrow, poorly lit, sucking exhaust for too long if you're going up. Base out of Oisans and it's instantly up out of the box.

Bourg St Maurice is an interestion option with the Roselend, Petite St Bernard, and the Iseran above town plus it's a nice town but, like Bourg d'Oisans, you're in instant climbing mode out of the box with little or no warm-up. A bunch of other good climbs there too though less well known.

Briançon is another interesting option as the town is terrific and you've got the Izoard and the Gablier nearby.

Of all the towns in the Alps Barcelonnette is maybe the most interesting of all. Allos, Champs, Cayolle, Bonette, Vars, and Larche are all right there. Terrific town too. Can't beat it. But once again instant up.

In the end the best plan is to rent a car and pick a couple or three towns to base out of and bag the cols you've been dreaming of riding.

All of this is based on the assumption that your desire is bagging the high and mythic cols. If you're just looking for great rides on beautiful roads with lots of climbing and high speed descents and no or very little traffic, the Grenoble area is unbeatable.

You can check out a lot of the rides on my site which I've not updated in a very long time as I've been too busy working on my house. Nevertheless there's a lot of info on quite a few climbs. Also totally dedicated to climbing, and going down of course. The site is velotel-touring.com which hopefully this summer I'll be able to start updating again.

[tv_vt]

Thanks, Velotel. Great information and insights.

As far as touring companies, came across a couple more. Cyclomundo sounds pretty good and fairly reasonable. I like their custom trip option.

And Thomson Tours has a pretty extensive write-up on PezcyclingNews right now. Nice trips, but expensive to me ($3500/pp).

Thom

[MadRocketSci]

for your first trip, going with a tour company is not a bad idea. you'll get peace of mind. except for when you see your bike being piled in the back of a tour bus with mere cardboard sheets separating them (from a large group size, low cost operator).

when you're there, inquire how much money a room at the particular hotel you are staying at is. Tour companies typically charge somewhere around 300 per day, per person. summertime is low season in the alps. Inquiring at the front desk of the Hotel Million in albertville, a pretty nice place, in 2004, the price per room (two beds) was 80 euros.

So for the extra ~$240 bucks/day, you get a route sheet, a dinner at the hotel (personally would prefer to get my own meals), breakfast, some sag support, and airport transfer. The plus side is you have plenty of cool new people to ride with.

[velotel]

if you don't need/want the psychological/social support tour companies provide, you can put together an excellent tour on your own, especially if you're coming over with some like-minded riders or, as someone already mentioned, you're coming over with someone who isn't looking to ride and would be quite happy tootling along in a car. On your own you can do a tour for a fraction of the cost and, at least in my opinion, have a better adventure. I'm not knocking tour companies as they for sure eliminate the hassle factor and make life way easy but anyone looking to ride the Alps is already not looking for the easy way otherwise you'd just drive through the Alps. If you decide to do one on your own, I'll be happy to give you whatever advice I can. The thing to always keep in mind when contemplating riding in France is that you can never make a wrong turn. Never. There is always another road, another way that will get you where you want to go. Always. Might even be more enjoyable than the previewed way. Obviously if you speak at least a wee bit of french life would be easier but even without you'd get by just fine. Cheers