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

If you enjoyed my tour updates you might like my summary of the week below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOG9VskR7Aw

i did a lap of the lake roselend on a mix of hiking path and 4x4 track last week, was great

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That sounds & looks great. I love Annecy and although we only went for the cycling (although we took a dip in the lake too on a day that I forgot to take my GoPro) there's always so much to do from sunbathing, swimming and eating to rock-climbing, hiking and parapente'ing which seems to be the other main hobby there as well as hot-air ballooning.

The weather was amazing last week too and it's a real shock to the system to come back to London this week.

Cime Bonette from Jausiers. Lightweight jersey weather climb and descent, very very windy. Now Ricard at Barcelonette.

I've booked our little camper on LeShuttle, heading out at the end of August & coming back just over three weeks later. Not got a huge amount of a plan yet, other than we're heading to the French alps (& possibly over Lugano at some point) & doing plenty of day rides from wherever we can stay.

Never ridden in the French alps (having stuck to the Swiss/Italian ones last time). Have created an (ambitious) map (square icons) of climbs I'd like to do (unlikely to hit them all), but it's a bit sparse so need to figure out exactly where we can stay/what we can link together. Does anyone have any recommendations of lesser known ones in the area?

List of things I'd like to do:

• Alp d'Huez.
  
• Lacets de Montvernier.
  
• Col de l'Iseran.
  
• Col du Télégraphe.
  
• Col du Galibier.
  
• Col de la Croix de Fer.
  
• Cormet de Roselend.
  
• Tour de France 2023 stage 16 (the decisive TT stage around Sallanches, seems like a fun idea).
  
  

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There is a loop which will get you the Croix de Fer, Telegraph, Galibier and optional Alpe d'Huez on the same day. But it's long and hard.
Did that last month without Huez, was still 190kms and 5200m climbing.

Ooh, ooh I can answer some of this.

Firstly, a great choice of climbs those are all crackers.

Secondly most of these can be knocked off from one location which is Saint Michel de Maurienne, in fact the Telegraphe actually starts from a right turn on the main street (assuming you are heading south arriving in the town). :

• Lacets de Montvernier, rideable from the town
  
• Col du Télégraphe, starts in Saint Michel
  
• Col du Galibier, follows on from Telegraphe
  
• Alpe d'Huez is a long ride or a short drive away
  
• Croix de Fer/Glandon both rideable
  
• it's not on your list but Col de la Madeleine is easily accessible from here too
  
  

Best place to stay with a camper is Le Marintan which has chalets, a hotel, parking spaces with power and water hook-ups and spaces for tents. Prices are very reasonable too. I've stayed in one of the chalets there and the showers/toilet block is good too.

Saint Michel de Maurienne is not a particularly pretty town but the above means it is a great place to start riding from.

If you want a slightly nicer town then Saint Jean de Maurienne is 15km north although this adds a few more klicks onto any ride you have planned and not having stayed there I don't have any recommendations.

Cormet de Roselend is a fair drive away but is well worth the effort. A nice, tough but one of the most scenic routes you can ride is a loop that can be done by starting in Beaufort (plenty of parking around the area), climbing up col du Pre, descending down to the Barrage (dam) de Roselend, ride across the dam wall and then alongside the lake and turn to ride up the Roselend. Come back down the Roselend and then descend back down into Beaufort.

Alternatively you can start in Ugine near Annecy. Here's the Strava pic and route profile from when I rode it last month plus gratuitous pics to illustrate the beauty of the dam when approached from Col du Pre.

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Alp d'Huez. - 100% skip, its awful, like riding up Layhams but with lorry traffic, roadies wank on about it which makes it even less attractive, do Sarenne instead
Lacets de Montvernier. - Thats like a 15 min ride/climb, go up Grand Cucheron in spare time. Lunch here: https://goo.gl/maps/xhSHG6im26AD1zfM8 Just in the 'lacets' category the bit on grand colombier from culoz bangs
Col de l'Iseran - Not done this but everyone says start at val d'isere, there is a BANGING bike path next to isere river, see how far it goes from Tignes/Bourg St Maurice
Col du Télégraphe. - Just a little lump on the way to Galibier, hot chocolate/ice cream in Valloire, @pastry_bot rode this, he rates it: https://www.cycling-challenge.com/col-du-galbier-via-col-dalbanne/
Col du Galibier. - Love this, decent climb, cars can be cunty, try not to ride on a weekend.
Col de la Croix de Fer. - Got to be done from Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne, we made a mistake and rode from Bourg-d'Oisans, long and a little boring from that side
Cormet de Roselend - BANGS, take gravel bike and do the lap of the lake from the top of col du pre

To be very honest, the unknown/alternative climbs in the alps bang much more so than the popular ones but if its your first trip, get it out of your system. I'd even go as far as and say that ride half of those but ride the main road one day and a 4x4 track next. @platypus and @fussballclub said this before my last roadie trips. This year it was my 5th or 6th trip and I finally embraced gravel, never riding road again.

This guy is god level: https://www.cycling-challenge.com/

@fussballclub @andyp @pastry_bot might add more to this, much more experience than me

This is the place to get a case of wine on the way home/there btw: https://goo.gl/maps/W3VRgxLtkpfoALo39
https://goo.gl/maps/dBmNsKkiJaas4FzF6

Mont Cenis & Le Suffet
https://www.strava.com/segments/16641931
https://www.strava.com/segments/11799790

Col du Chaussy
https://www.strava.com/segments/4803742

Col du Mollard + Col de la croix de Fer
https://www.strava.com/segments/12149951

Glandon
https://www.strava.com/segments/9983525

Wow, cheers for all these! I'll take a look through this evening.

are you STILL in the Alps?! Ricard is vile.

Alp d'Huez. - 100% skip, its awful

https://www.cycling-challenge.com/100-cycling-climbs-better-than-alpe-dhuez/

This god level guys site is great, did not know - reminds me of this one:
https://www.passzwang.net/en/database_cycling.php

Don’t listen to @amey, go and make your own mind up. Even if you don’t enjoy a climb, you can still say you’ve done it and then know not to bother next time you are in the area.

It’s such a hipster thing to hate on the well known climbs and recommended some goat track that no one has heard of before.

Repeating other tips here but some thoughts and photos to get you in the mood. V jealous. Riding in the mountains is just the best.

Do Col de l'Iseran. It's my favourite climb ever, so wild and beautiful. Do it from the Bonneval side as it's a big road up to Val d'Isère otherwise, and ridiculously long.

+1 for doing the Cormet de Roselend via col du Pré. That way you go over the dam and join the main road for the last few k. It's a tough climb, and I'd had a big Beaufort cheese pie at the bottom so was feeling heavy. This is the view from the top of col du Pré.

The Madeleine is lovely and surprisingly quiet. Good burger at the top too.

Also agree that smaller lesser known climbs can be great. Look out for balcony roads that link up the villages on the mountainside. Did a great one up from Aime in the Isère valley, which links back up to Bourg st Maurice. V rough road though so wouldn't descend to Aime.

balcony roads

@andyp told us to go to Vercors for this so we did, it was fucking banging

Damn all this chat. Sitting at home doing nothing and reading this hurts a bit. I miss the mountains.

Damn indeed, I only got back two weeks ago and am already pining for the fjords.

My buddy who drove us is heading back down to Annecy tomorrow for his 2-week annual hols with his wife and daughter but I know he is taking his bike and will hit up some of the climbs again.

Is the 85cm rule a typical one for continental trains? It would be nice to have a standard packing solution which is never refused.

In the past I've kept to the 30cm airline/bus rule with s&s couplers and a home made cardboard box but it was so much faff that it ruined my whole week.

I can't see you having trouble anywhere if your bike is packed at 85cm. TGV and Thalys hardly look at it, I saw someone leaving a surfboard on the restaurant car of the AMS-Brussels train the other day.

Don't know if Germany's ICEs are another story, but I'd assume you're more than fine if you keep the bag reasonable.

I pack my bike in a crappy plastic cover and no one bats an eyelid. This is 85cm in a Thalys, expertly photographed

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Top tip; when you climb the Croix de Fer don't forget on the way back down to Bourg d'Oisins to take the turn off to the Col du Glandon and bag two climbs for the price of one (stock pix off the internet).

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Excellent. Do any British train operators stop you doing this?