Cycling in the high mountains. Alps, Dolomites, Pyrenees etc

Nice warm up ride this morning, Sevrier > Semnoz > Leschaux > Sevrier.

I'm looking at a longer route for mid week, something like Col de la Croix Fry, Aravis, Glieres and back to Annecy. Any recommendations from those that have been here before ?

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Gileres hurts a lot

Excellent news.

Which route did you do ?

Go for almond croissant here

Marmillon
+33 4 50 45 08 69
https://maps.app.goo.gl/kPgHocVPWTDo5hT4A

My tenative plan is a 3 day gravel/bikepacking/hotel-hopping loop, starting in Grenada

Post dredge - Are you doing this?

Yes, but not this year. No weekend spare until mid October, and I think it'll be too late by then. Next year, hopefully.

Le Plateau des Glières - ouch.

Edit - checking out the almond croissants tomorrow.

Considering hiring a road bike for 3 x Ventoux.

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yep, narrow road too

Thought this link may be of interest to someone (yes, I'm a bit of a long-time admirer of the bikes on that site). Basically suggests using a German train app to plan French train journeys. I have no experience of this, but perhaps it is of help to someone.

https://www.lafraisecycles.com/news/2022/4/28/traveling-by-train-and-bicycle-in-france-how-its-done-no-you-dont-have-to-take-your-bike-apart

That is exceedingly helpful, thank you. Been annoyed by the sncf and Trainline searches for french trains the last couple of weeks!

Bit of an eye-opening condemnation of TGV+bike travel, has anyone else tried it?

Yes, Ivan, who rode the ALPI 4000 on fixed used a small Brompton bag and disassembled his bike (brakes off, fork out, etc) to fit in Euroshart's dimension limits.

Not so easy if you have gears and hydro brakes and stuff but perhaps not impossible. Maybe it's just time to start touring on a Brompton/Moulton/Birdy...

it's not really true, I have taken bike on TGV a few times in a massive Evoc bag without issues.
some TGV lines also let you take them on unboxed.

They do say there are some that take bikes "There are a few with a bike compartment which have room for 5 bikes but they are as hard to find as the proverbial needle in the haystack."

Pointing out which TGV lines take full bikes would be useful.

TGV

Bikes go for €10 on some TGV & Intercité trains, advance reservation required: Some high-speed TGV trains & some Intercité trains have special bike spaces and will take bikes for a fee of €10 if you book a bike space in advance. This includes some TGV-Atlantique (Paris-Brittany, Paris-Bordeaux-Biarritz-Lourdes), all Paris-Limoges-Cahors-Toulouse & Paris-Vichy-Clermont Ferrand Intercités, some TGV-Nord (Paris-Lille), some TGV-Est (Paris-Reims-Strasbourg). There are a maximum of 4 bike spaces per train, on the routes and trains that offer this feature.

Overnight

Bikes go for €10 on some French overnight trains: Some Intercités de Nuit overnight trains within France take bicycles in a special bicycle compartment if you reserve space in advance and pay a small fee (€10-€15), while you sleep in a 2nd class couchette (it won't let you add a bike if you book a 1st class couchette!). There are just a handful of Intercités de Nuit routes, routes that take bikes include Paris to Toulon, Cannes, Antibes& Nice, Paris to Toulouse, Paris to Lourdes & Tarbes, Paris to Perpignan, Collioure, Port Vendres & Cerbère. But an afternoon Eurostar then an overnight couchette train a good way to get your bike from the UK to southern France. You'll have to cycle across Paris, though.

https://www.seat61.com/bike-by-train.htm#France

Reminds me of when I was in Italy and got on a fast train with my bike. Obviously not allowed but the conductor just smiled and looked the other way.

Ahh Italy.

Just had this advertised to me on IG. Bizarrely I can’t find overall dims of the bags though

https://www.orucase.com/products/the-airport-ninja-bicycle-travel-case

He had just called the cops and you were lucky you got off before they arrived. Narrowly escaped a night in the cells :D

I can totally imagine that happening in Italy. I've had conductors in Belgium let me go without a bike ticket before. I mean, clearly I'm forrun scum but they're pleasant about it. Germany, not so much - "we will take your passport until you pay the fine". Fucksake, if you didn't have 13 screens of options you knobs.

Groovy. Ta.

"an afternoon Eurostar" - ahh I remember the days when this island wasn't an isolated mess

I was chatting to a guy on ALPI about this 1000k rando:
https://sites.google.com/site/le1000dusud/

It starts from "1000 du Sud Base Camp, chez Provence Randonneurs, 3960 ancien chemin de Salernes, 83570 Cotignac, France"

So, if I can get time to do it, finding fast trains to get there would be much preferred to flying.

My pleasure! Curious to hear if anyone has any luck with this.

This thread caught my eye, because I sort of dream about cycling from the east to the west of France, through Paris (partly training it) it across to the Brest area at some point. Mind you, an acquaintance of mine and her 70 year-old mum cycled along French bike paths and canals from the French-Swiss border near Geneva down to south of France. They didn't use any trains, just a French website for bike paths (can't remember what it's called). So...I guess I should stop thinking about it and just go.

Haha. Living in Germany myself (not exactly German - father is) and can confirm those types are very much about : ) Though in all fairness, it really does depend on personality here. I recently again asked a conductor if I could show my ticket (after all, I had paid and didn't want to feel like it was a waste) and he just shrugged, half-smiled and gave a a bit of a wave, responding with something like "nah, don't worry".

Recconed the Bédoin ascent yesterday. Les cinglés on the cards in a few days time.

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Someone without a ticket isn't going to ask a conductor to look at their ticket though.

I had a ticket, it was just I misunderstood the zones in Berlin. It was something like a single trip ticket but that meant it could only be used in zone blah when I was using it to go blahblah. It was 15 years ago so I'm a bit vague but they were undercover ticket inspectors and real pricks about it. 50EU fine because I'd bought the wrong ticket and save like 1EU or some bullshit and I was clearly a tourist with no idea.

Anyway, hard "fuck you" to those guys and a fuckity fuck you to the dickhead that designed the ticketing machines and zones.

On a more recent and related note. The grrl on Finestre...

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No worries. What sort of itinerary were you thinking? I'm considering a solo midweek trip in September just now.