COLD! I am really pushing this late season climbing thing. But I had plenty of layers and my balaclava. So the descent wasn’t too horrible. Another great Jura mountain climb route without seeing a single car.

Every year local cyclists shake their heads at cowardly Tour de France organizers that run the Tour right by this Jura giant, but refuse to climb it. It’s just too steep!

Another beautiful day. The Fall colors are out in full force. Barry and I rode from Switzerland into France to the Juras near Thoiry up a quiet road to Le Tiocan – a scenic lookout point overlooking Geneva and the Lake.

Today’s 60 kilometre loop was one of those beautiful “road to nowhere” rides in the Jura mountains – I didn’t see a car until 90 minutes into the ride.                     Starting in Nantua, the route started with the main climb – Col de Belleroche. It’s a beautiful 11 kilometre climb on [...]

The plan was to climb Col de la Givrine with my road bike, descend to the car then climb a tiny steep road nearby with my mountain bike – but my legs protested the second climb. Col de la Givrine is a scenic not very steep climb in the Jura mountains finishing above St Cergue [...]

High above Lake Geneva, at 1,678 metres Le Dole is one of the highest peaks in the Jura montains. At the very top is a huge white air-traffic control radar ball clearly visible from below (see photo). View Larger Map It’s a great ride – with more than 1,000 metre in vertical climb – on [...]

The Col du Grand Colombier is easily the most epic climb in the Jura Mountains – but the Col de la Biche right beside, is known as its crazy cousin. And just a little bit further along, the Col de Richemond might be the nice little brother. Starting in Bellegarde, this loop started with the [...]

The French Department of Ain (north-west of Haute Savoie) has about thirty cycling routes well sign-posted at all degrees of difficulty. Today I tried a tough route through the Jura mountains that passed 4 mountain Cols (and a 10 km detour made it 5 Cols). Net, 91 kms and 1,500 metres ascent along wide and [...]

Col de la Biche (Biche = Doe, a deer, a female deer) is in the Jura mountains on the same stretch as the Grand Colombier. My cycling bible: “With more than 1,000 metres of climb and its slopes averaging more than 10% for some kilometres, The Col de la Biche is the crazy cousin of [...]

The Cret d’Eau is one of the highest peaks in the Jura Mountains, about 50 metres lower than the highest – the neighbouring Cret de Neige, and we can see it from our driveway. It’s about 20 kms away as the crow flies. From Bellegarde there is a super route on mainly wide, deserted roads [...]