favorites in the French Alps?

I'm looking for more rides to do in the great mountains of France. I've done
lots of the big climbs, but I find I have more fun on a holiday week when I
instead "mix" the tough climbing days with other days of fun gentler riding.
So I'm interested in hearing about both ends of difficulty spectrum.

Here's some categories where I'm looking for more ideas:
* gentler single-day loop routes
* loop routes with moderate climbs "in the foothills"
* big climbs up with descent back down the same way
* loop routes that include big climbs

Below are lists of the ones I've found so far in each category.

Ken

Here's my favorites from what I've tried so far:
_____________________________________
Gentler single-day loop routes:

* around the Lac d'Annecy: lots of lake + mountain views, three non-big
climbs along northeast side of lake, while much of southwest side is a paved
rail trail -- plus the ancient city of Annecy is nice for walking +
sightseeing.
* farms + vineyards southeast from Chambery city. Delightful in springtime
when there's still some snow on the surrounding mountains. The "Lac St
Andre" signed bicycle route makes a nice introduction, then there's lots of
pretty variations which Sharon and I have explored.

[ It's not easy to find this gentler kind of route in the middle of the
Alps -- I think I'd settle for something in the area east of Lyon being near
enough. ]
_____________________________________
Moderate climbing loop routes "in the foothills":

I feel confident I can find this kind of riding: (a) down south around Nice
+ Menton; and (b) up north between Thonon and St Jeoire --perhaps something
with the D12 (Habere-Poche) and/or the D26 (Bellevaux).

But I'd love to know some nice foothills routes for some of the areas in
between. I even took the time to check in three shops around Chambery, but
they didn't have any bicycling-specific guidebooks or maps. Seems you can
get bicycle routes from tourist offices -- OK -- but it would be nice to
have some suggestions of which ones to try.

"Versant du Soleil" signed bicycle route on the northwest side of the valley
(opposite La Plagne) between Aime and Bourg St Maurice - ?? - the part I
rode from Granier to BStM was delightful, but I didn't do the whole thing.
_____________________________________
Big Climb up, then go back down the same way:

* Col de l'Iseran: prettiest I found in terms of mountain peaks that still
held snow to the beginning of July. I especially liked the
north side starting from Val d'Isere. (not start any lower, unless tunnels
with lots of vehicle traffic is your desire) -- and the south side starting
from Lanslebourg was also nice.

* Cormet de Roselend: especially the northwest side (toward Beaufort).
Pretty lake, variety.

* closest views of the biggest mountains: Sallanches to Combloux, south up
the
"ancienne route a Combloux". Climb starts very steep, then steep, then
gets gentle, with pleasant farms. (I did it as a loop with Col des Aravis -
Col de la Colombiere - Megeve.)

* Col du Galibier: north side (toward Valloire) is spectacular.
* Col de la Bonette / Restefond: north side was a very fun descent to
Jausiers. (be nice to catch this early in the season while there's still
some snow on surrounding peaks)
* Col du Mont Cenis: has a big pretty lake at the top. (could also be done
in loop with a bus ride thru Tunnel Frejus)
* Col des Aravis: southeast side (toward Flumet) seemed interesting.

http://www.grenoblecycling.com is a rather helpful English-language
resource to the big climbs.
_____________________________________
Loop routes with big climbs:

* Lac de Serre Poncon - Barcelonnette - Col de Vars was wonderful (makes me
feel sorry for people who do the hard labor of climbing Vars and miss out on
the wonderful riding above and alongside the Lac). I started in Le
Lauzet-Ubaye, D900 east along the Ubaye river thru Barcelonnette and
Jausiers, D902 north over Col de Vars (climb finishes with sustained 9%
steepness grade), good views of Pelvoux / Ecrins mountains and Durance river
valley on descent to Guillestre, N94 southwest to Embrun. As I was leaving
the town, climbed D9 west up to Les Truchets, descended D841 + D641 with
great views of big lake + peaks. Crossed bridge to south side of Lac de
Serre Poncon, took D954 with more lake views southwest then east back to
start. I estimated this loop as roughly 2400m of climbing and 135km
distance (8000ft and 84 miles).

* Briancon - les Vigneaux - Guillestre - Col d'Izoard: Great variety, first
riding south down the west side of the Durance river, then the big climb
back north, and I remember enjoying much of the descent from Izoard into the
city of Briancon.

* Montgenevre - Echelle cols: Col du Montgenevre - fun descent east into
Italy - thru Oulx + near Bardonecchia - return to France by going
southwest over quiet Col de l'Echelle to Nevache.

* big long challenge: Larche - Italy - Lombarda - Bonette. I started _early_
in Jausiers, not-real-steep climb to Col de Larche (Maddalena in Italian)
fun + pretty descent southeast in Italy thru cliffs and villages.
Interesting long climb with steep-ish sections south to Colle della Lombarda
/ Lombarde. Back in France, some rough pavement on descent to Isola 2000 ski
resort. Then nice pavement (but I would have enjoyed more interesting
curves) down to the low valley village of Isola. Long limb (one or two
steep-ish sections) to Col de la Bonette, then I did the extra bit (rather
steep) to Cime de la Bonette (over 2800m, a paved road higher than Col de
l'Iseran or Stelvio). Finished with a rather fun descent north back to
Jausiers. I estimated this loop as roughly 4360m of climbing and 161km
distance (14300ft and 100 miles).
_____________________________________

The Col de la Cayolle from Barcelonnette through the Gorges du Bachalard
is a wonderful ride, a high col but a gentle climb from that side. The
gorge is spectacular and the rest of the climb is very scenic,
especially towards the top. The other side of the col, down towards
Guillaumes, is a spectacularly weird landscape.

If you stay in Jausiers (La Mexican is a nice chambre-d'hote) you can
ride the Sept Cols des Ubaye very conveniently in a series of day trips.
The Col de Vars is a very nice ride, past the Redoute de Berwick. I
skipped riding up the Bonnette but two friends went up it and really had
a nice ride.

I also quite liked the Col d'Izoard and had a wonderful easy day ride
over to Chateau-Queyras.

But I think I liked Bourg-d'Oisans and the Romanche Valley the best.
There are some fabulous rides from there.

Thanks for the ideas about bases in places like Jausiers and Bourg d'Oisans.
Not moving on every day strikes me as a more fun kind of holiday.

Tim McNamara wrote
The Col de la Cayolle from Barcelonnette through
the Gorges du Bachalard is a wonderful ride

Now you've made me want to try riding that north side of Cayolle on a nice
sunny day. My own experience was driving my car over it during the night in
a rainstorm. All I could tell was that the road seemed notably bumpy, and I
was driving through narrow passages in the rocks, but I couldn't see any
views because there was no moonlight. After that I was glad to decide to
ride Bonette instead -- but now it sounds like Cayolle deserves another
chance.

Ken

Ken Roberts ha scritto:

Here's my favorites from what I've tried so far:

Hi Ken,
it certainly is no surprise that diferent people have
different taste.
Many, many years ago I did a trip from Bordighera, through Nice,
straight up to Bardonecchia.
I really did not like it, so that, for example, I never went back to la
Bonnette, nor to Col de Vars.

Sergio
Pisa

un-favorites
in the French Alps, that post from Sergio sounds like:

I really did not like it . . .
I never went back to la Bonnette

I was not that impressed climbing Bonette from the south either -- other
than it being big and long -- which is sort of the point of Bonette from a
bicycling perspective. It was mainly the north side of Bonette / Restefond
that I found interesting -- as a descent.

nor to Col de Vars.

I wrote about it Vars:
"makes me feel sorry for people who do the hard labor of climbing Vars and
miss out on the wonderful riding above and alongside the Lac de Serre
Poncon."

I'm guessing Sergio was one of those riders who missed out riding along the
Lac.

Favorites -- how about some of those instead? -- even if they're in the
Italian Alps.

Ken

Ken Roberts ha scritto:

I'm guessing Sergio was one of those riders who missed out riding along the
Lac.

Bingo!

Favorites -- how about some of those instead? -- even if they're in the
Italian Alps.

Here we go.

Stelvio from Prato, above all, but also from Bormio.
Nivolet.
Iseran from Bonneval.
Gran San Bernardo, from Etroubles.
Grimsel and Furka.
Nufenen.
Bernina.
And lots of those in the Dolomites.

And, mainly for personal affection, Col de l'Echelle.

Sergio
Pisa

Sergio wrote
Many, many years ago I did a trip from Bordighera,
through Nice, straight up to Bardonecchia.

The whole reason I'm posting "favorites" is so that people do not have to
do trips like that.

I do not think that the French Alps or the country of France have wonderful
bicycling anywhere I choose. Sometimes Sharon and I have been in areas of
France where we both agreed were not as interesting as our favorite rides in
the Hudson river valley of New York -- which we could have done with much
less travel time and cost.

So I'm trying to offer some hints about which specific roads another visitor
would have a better bet in selecting.

I really did not like it

Looks like Sergio's route missed out on almost all my favorites. So I guess
I'm not surprised by his overall assessment.

different people have different taste.

For most of those "favorites", I've tried to say specifically what I liked
about it -- because different people are looking for different things. Like
Col de l'Iseran is great for big views of snowcapped peaks, but I didnt'
think either side was outstanding as a descent. Like Bonette does not have
so much in dramatic peaks and cliffs, but I thought the north-side descent
was more interesting than Iseran. On a descent what I like are lots of
interesting curves, variety of steepness -- and dips and rolls are fun, but
don't get many on the big cols of the Alps. (Still anyway I'd guess the main
reason most people do Bonette is to say they rode up a paved road to over
2800m.)

The day before I flew home from France, I was driving my car on a major
national road, and I overtook two loaded touring cyclists, and I wanted to
just stop and yell at them -- because some of my favorite roads were just 3
km off to the side. They could have been riding quiet well-paved single-lane
roads through delightful farms and vineyards -- but instead they were taking
the obvious "straight" route. Wouldn't surprise me if they reported later
that they'll never ride through there again. But I hope I will again -- just
not "straight" on that obvious road.

Ken

Sergio wrote
Favorites
Stelvio from Prato, above all, but also from Bormio.
Nivolet.
Iseran from Bonneval.
Gran San Bernardo, from Etroubles.
Grimsel and Furka.
Nufenen.
Bernina.
And lots of those in the Dolomites.

Thanks -- just what I wanted. I've only done two of those, so I've got lots
to do.

Nivolet.

Wow, fascinating idea. I never heard of it, so I looked in "indici" of the
TCI Nord map book. So I see it's close under Gran Paradiso -- highest
mountain in Italy -- which I have long hoped to climb up and ski down. On
the map the Colle del Nivolet is very close to France (and Col de l'Iseran,
but no road connection) -- so I think I saw it once when I was ski touring
on the Grand Aiguille Rousse -- but only snow with no visible road, so it
never occurred to me that I could ride my bicycle there. And many years ago
I visited a ski touring partner who lived in Ivrea, and then he moved to
Castellamonte, even closer to Nivolet -- but I wasn't doing much bicycling
then.

And, mainly for personal affection, Col de l'Echelle.

Too late ... that was already on the list I posted.

Ken

Ken Roberts ha scritto:


Nivolet.

Wow, fascinating idea. I never heard of it,

Let me have your address and you will have pictures of it that I took
one month ago, when there was still a lot of snow up there.
Also, in case you read Italian you might also enjoy some reports about
the Nivolet.
Also, if you check it.sport.ciclismo you will find a lot of reports on
the ride a bunch of friends of mine took up there, just last week.

Sergio
Pisa

P.s. Mind you, I have been bike touring the Alpes some 35 years, now.

wrote:
Ken Roberts ha scritto:


Nivolet.

Wow, fascinating idea. I never heard of it,

Let me have your address ..

I meant your @-mail address, of course.

Sergio
Pisa