favorites in the French Alps?

Sergio wrote
Let me have your address and you will have pictures of it

Thanks -- I sent it to you.

Ken

Tim McNamara wrote
. . . If you stay in Jausiers . . .
. . . But I think I liked Bourg-d'Oisans and the Romanche Valley the best.

This idea of using a village or city as a base sparks some other
possibilities:

Modane -- some spectacular rides from near the
* Col de l'Iseran up and back (or even across to Val d'Isere?).
* bus thru the Tunnel de Frejus to Italy, then ride from Bardonecchia to
Susa, then back to France over Col Mont Cenis, thru Lanslebourg back Modane.
If I had the strength, I'd add to that a side-loop to that: Col de l'Echelle
to Nevache valley (France) then Col Montgenevre back to Italy again.
* Col du Galibier up and back by way of St Michel de Maurienne + Col de
Telegraphe.
* possibly even all the way to Col de la Croix de Fer (perhaps with help
from train service between Modane + St Jean de Maurienne), could make a loop
with Col du Mollard and St Albiez le Vieux. (see TdF 19 July 2006) (? or
with lots of endurance could continue all the way to Bourg d'Oisans?)
[ myself I'd choose any of those rides over l'Alpe d'Huez. ]

Bourg St Maurice ? but with conditions on some of the rides:
* Cormet de Roselend over to Lac de Roselend and back (perhaps add some
other climbs around Beaufort and Areches).
* Col de l'Iseran -- but I'd only do it with first taking my bike on a bus
up to Val d'Isere, and only from there climb Col d'Iseran up and back (or
even across to Bonneval-sur-Arc?). I've heard some unfavorable reports of
riding from BStM to Val d'Isere -- lots of traffic with some tunnels.
* If can tolerate a long stretch (? 8-10 km ?) on gravel, I rode an
interesting loop with Cormet de Roselend - Lac de Roselend - (? Col du Pre +
village of Areches ?) - Cormet d'Areches - Granier village - Valezan -
Montgirod - BStM.
* ? Col du Petit St Bernard up and back ? -- high pass into Italy, but I
haven't tried it.
* ? "Versant du Soleil" bicycle route between Aime + BStM via Granier
village - Valezan - Montgirod -- (I much enjoyed the part of it I did)
* ? mostly off-road bike path that connects between Seez and Aime

Grenoble city

lots more ideas for "foothills" riding in the northern French Alps:
http://www.savoiehautesavoie.com/ima...chure_velo.pdf

Ken

In article
,
"Ken Roberts" wrote:

Tim McNamara wrote
. . . If you stay in Jausiers . . .
. . . But I think I liked Bourg-d'Oisans and the Romanche Valley the best.

This idea of using a village or city as a base sparks some other
possibilities:

snip Those sound nice.

From Bourg-d'Oisans:

Up l'Alpe-d'Huez and then take the D25 out of town to the Col de
Sarenne, which has a nice rustic quality and a great descent to the
Ferrand valley; then up to the D211a for a spectacular ride along the
cliffs above the Romanche Valley overlooking Bourg-d'Oisans. The D211a
will bring you back to the road up l'Alpe-d'Huez so you've got a nice
descent back into town. A great ride.

http://www2.bitstream.net/~timmcn/alps2002-2.html

For a grand day out from Bourg-d'Oisans, take the route of Lam Marmotte:
up the Col de Croix de Fer, down into the Maurienne Valley, then up the
Telegraphe and Galibier, and finally to many kilometers of descending
back to Bourg-d'Oisans. Just don't do it when it's nearly 100 degrees F
(38 degrees C). I drank 18 water bottles in just over 100 miles in 9
hours; Floyd used 70 a couple days ago on his ride in the mountains at
similar temps, and I probably should have too! Although he was going a
bit faster than me... If you want to do the full route of La Marmotte,
then you'd need to climb l'Alpe-d'Huez at the end. Yikes.

http://www2.bitstream.net/~timmcn/alps2002-3.html

I didn't have a chance to do the ride from Bourg-d'Oisans to La Berarde
and back, but have been told that it's a wonderful ride. There are also
a number of other rides in the area that are not usually used in the
Tour, so many people have never heard of them.

There are probably many places in the Alps where you could establish a
base and do luggage-free day rides. The riding there is SO spectacular
and the varieties of terrain, geology, microclimate ecology, etc. can
keep you fascinated quite endlessly. I've not yet ridden the northern
Alps at all and only scratched the surface between Grenoble and Nice.

http://www2.bitstream.net/~timmcn/alps2002-1.html

Ken Roberts wrote:
Sergio wrote
Let me have your address and you will have pictures of it

Thanks -- I sent it to you.

So did I, the pictures of Nivolet.
Feel free to share with anyone else, if desired.
They were taken at the beginning of june, this year. The road was open
up to one kilometer from the summit.

Sergio
Pisa

I've done an awful lot of the climbs mentioned here in previous years,
France and Italy.

Some of the best cycling, however is not in particularly high
mountains.

Some favourites of mine.

The Cele valley (Tributary of Lot). Gorgeous.
The Southern side of Verdun Gorge.
The Pink Granite Coast, Northern Brittany.
The Dordogne area.
The Auvergne.

wrote
Some of the best cycling, however is not in particularly high mountains.

Yes defininitely -- and I think that's true even within the French Alps
region -- that's why I've been including info about "gentle" and "foothills"
rides in my posts. (and also which major cities in the valleys have fun
street-skating, but that's a different newsgroup).

The nice thing about finding that kind of riding in the Alps is then I can
have _both_ pretty valley riding and big challenging climbs (and fun
skating) in the same holiday trip -- or even on the same day, with a loop
ride that link together a high pass climb with interesting low valley
riding.

Some favourites of mine.
The Cele valley (Tributary of Lot). Gorgeous.
The Southern side of Verdun Gorge.
The Pink Granite Coast, Northern Brittany.
The Dordogne area.
The Auvergne.

It's great to see lists like that. I remember back when Garry Lee would post
his, and Sharon and I have been having a wonderful time cycling around one
or two of his recommended regions every year -- and we're not done yet.

Ken

Tim McNamara wrote
From Bourg-d'Oisans:
Up l'Alpe-d'Huez and then take the D25 out of town
to the Col de Sarenne ...

Thanks for some other ideas beyond just going up and down l'Alpe d'Huez
(which I find over-rated).

For a grand day out from Bourg-d'Oisans, take the route of
La Marmotte ... Col de Croix de Fer ... Telegraphe and Galibier ... back
to Bourg-d'Oisans.

I've always thought of doing that in the other direction, but now that you
mention it there's a lot to be said for riding all those tunnels (with
traffic) thru La Grave back to Bourg d'Oisans in the downhill direction.

I didn't have a chance to do the ride from Bourg-d'Oisans to La Berarde
and back

I once rode in a car after a premature end to a multi-day ski tour thru the
Ecrins -- seemed pretty intimidating -- very steep-sided valley staring down
a long ways to the side of the road. And fairly intimidating mountains above
the road.

One idea I do _not_ like is riding the main road up from Grenoble to Bourg
d'Oisans.

Ken

In article ,
"Ken Roberts" wrote:

Tim McNamara wrote
From Bourg-d'Oisans: Up l'Alpe-d'Huez and then take the D25 out of
town to the Col de Sarenne ...

Thanks for some other ideas beyond just going up and down l'Alpe
d'Huez (which I find over-rated).

There are several alternatives, including a sheep trail ride towards
Croix de Fer, although I didn't check that out at all. There's a route
sketched out somewhere on the Internet, maybe on the Rough Stuff
Fellowship Web site. I thought the Sarenne was wonderful, including
seeing a house built against a barn-sized tumulus that looks as though
the rock came rolling down and bumped into the back of the house.
Probably the house was sited that way to offer some avalanche
protection.

For a grand day out from Bourg-d'Oisans, take the route of La
Marmotte ... Col de Croix de Fer ... Telegraphe and Galibier ...
back to Bourg-d'Oisans.

I've always thought of doing that in the other direction, but now
that you mention it there's a lot to be said for riding all those
tunnels (with traffic) thru La Grave back to Bourg d'Oisans in the
downhill direction.

It's almost completely downhill from the summit of the Galiber to
Bourg-d'Oisans. There's only one or two very brief rises in that
direction. That's why I picked that direction. OTOH, the ride up the
Telegraphe and the Galibier is harder from St. Michael de Maurienne than
riding up the Lauteret and then Galibier IMHO.

Going the other way, up the Lauteret/Galibier and coming down Croix de
Fer/Glandon, means riding up a false flat from Rochetaillee back to
Bourg-d'Oisans. Yuck.

I didn't have a chance to do the ride from Bourg-d'Oisans to La
Berarde and back

I once rode in a car after a premature end to a multi-day ski tour
thru the Ecrins -- seemed pretty intimidating -- very steep-sided
valley staring down a long ways to the side of the road. And fairly
intimidating mountains above the road.

One idea I do _not_ like is riding the main road up from Grenoble to
Bourg d'Oisans.

Getting out of Grenoble is not great but not that bad, certainly
compared to most American city riding. Lots of one way streets going
the wrong way. As I recall we took the D5 from Grenoble to Vizille and
they joined the main highway. The main road is the busiest in the Alps,
I have read, but at least at the time of day we were riding (mid
morning) it wasn't too bad at all. We found that French drivers readily
accommodated cyclists (although they have no mercy towards each other).
Riding from Grenoble through Rochetaillee to Bourg-d'Oisans gives you a
visually beautiful introduction to the Alps and the Romanche Valley.
It's really dramatic. However, it feels like quite a slog due to being
a false flat practically all the way from Vizille to Bourg-d'Oisans.