Switzerland mountain roads questions

"Ken Roberts" wrote in message
...
Mike Jacoubowsky wrote
Presently we're booked in Chambery, but it really looks like
Albertville would be the better place, with direct (by bike, without
car) access to the Annecy and Grand Bournand stages, and possibly a
train ride to St Bourg Maurice where we could ride to the Petite St.
Bernard pass for that stage.

* I like Chambery better as a city, with a marked bike route that
gives access to the countryside south and north (goes roughly near
lots of the hotels, I'd guess less than half a mile from the Etap on
the RN6 near Challes-les-Eaux). And I think the farmland riding
immediately accessible from Chambery is nicer than around Albertville.

* Chambery has great fast road access to most of the northern French
Alps -- and lots of other places such as the Geneva + Lyon airports.
I like to use it as a base, and I plan to use my rental car to exploit
that advantage. But if your plan is to try to avoid actually using
your rental car, then the fit is not so clear.

Chambery is in all likelihood a nicer town than Albertville;
descriptions from most being that Albertville is just kind of there, a
town without any sort of soul, sort of a shell after the Olympics. But
from Albertville there is access, by bike, to three stages... without
having to drive much (not at all for two of the stages).

Tuesday's stage over Col du Petite St-Bernard can be accessed either by
taking the train to Bourg St. Maurice, riding to the top of the pass and
then return after the race passes through. Could be a bit of a ride back
to Albertville, given the time of day (figure on not being able to get
back to Bourg St. Maurice before 18:30 or so, and it's about 55km from
there to Albertville... if the weather's nice, still something I could
do with my son; otherwise, perhaps drive the car to Moutiers and ride
from there).

* riding from Albertville to Grand Bornand sounds like a rather big
day, and could have traffic interaction problems. The N212 thru Val
d'Arly gets lots of traffic in a hurry, lots of curves, much not wide.
The obvious alternative is to ride D925 to Beaufort and then climb
over Col des Saisies -- but again the D925 gets a fair amount of
traffic, lots of tight curves, much not wide (and getting over Saisies
is substantial work). (I've never cycled either of those roads, but
I've driven them many times in my car). There are other alternatives
(the one I've cycled was the D109? thru Hery on the west side of the
N212, with some steep climbing and not such rewarding views, and it
doesn't avoid all of the N212). Another idea might be to drive to
somewhere near Flumet and only ride the climb over Col d'Aravis -- but
don't count on finding parking in the village of Flumet.

I was thinking of something a bit different. The race goes from Bourg
St. Maurice over the Cormet de Roseland and Col des Saisies before
looping out through Sallanches and back over the Col du Colombiere. A
nice ride might be to take the train from Albertville to Bourg St.
Maurice and then ride the course (many hours ahead of the race) up to
the Col des Saisies and watch the race from there. Afterward, ride back
to Albertville via Beaufort and D925, or via Flumet and N212. If we're
slower than planned, we could always see the race on the Cormet de
Roseland instead. Either way, we're dealing with the less-desirable
roads in the downhill direction, and it wouldn't be the first time we'd
ridden for miles on end downhill in the middle of the two lanes with
many hundreds of other cyclists.

Thursday is the Time Trial around Lake Annecy, a hop skip & a jump from
Albertville via N212 and the Ugine Bike Path to Lake Annecy.

Staying in Chambery we could still ride to Lake Annecy without any
problem, but the other stages would be beyond reach without driving. We
could take the train to either Albertville or Bourg St. Maurice, but it
doesn't seem safe to assume that we'll be able to get on with our bikes
if it's too crowded.

We'll still have a couple days of riding available on Sunday & Monday to
do as we please, probably involving a run to Grenoble to take in the
Alpe d'Huez and possibly the balcony roads on the opposite side.
Alternatively we could spend a day in the Vercors region. Obviously,
those would be closer to a base in Chambery.

So my present thinking is to arrive in Chambery late Saturday, ride in
the Alpe d'Huez region Monday & Tuesday, then Tuesday night move on to
Albertville.

So Chambery Saturday & Sunday & Monday nights
(rent car Saturday night in Chambery at the train station, since you
can't rent a car for the most part on a Sunday anywhere but the biggest
cities)
Albertville Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday nights
Avignon Friday & Saturday nights
(return rental car in Avignon on Sunday morning at the TGV station)
Paris Sunday

Getting to Chambery and the return from Paris are still problematic. Air
fare is still too expensive, but it's quite possible we'll see an air
fare sale sometime in the winter. I can try to use miles on United, but
it's not easy into France. Very easy to fly into London, but then
what??? The Eurostar doesn't connect up well to Heathrow, and would
involve clumsy transfers in Paris (probably coming into Gare du Nord and
then having to get to Gare Lyon, not easily done with bikes & luggage).
Taking a separate flight from London doesn't work well due to the
outrageous fees for bikes (which could be as high as $175 each way, per
bike, on United).

At least it's super easy on the TGV trip from Avignon to Paris. Our
hotel is attached, literally, to Gare Lyon.

--Mike-- Chain Reaction Bicycles
www.ChainReactionBicycles.com