My St-Etienne friends Philippe and Xavier were in the neighbourhood and invited me to join them on a superb but challenging loop. Every climb was steep – including the famous Col de Joux Plane.
The plan was a loop starting in Taninges, up to Col de la Ramaz, down the other side (which I climbed last April), and back to Taninges. Good Plan! The secret of this route is to take the tiny route D307 out of Taninges and not the far busier D902. The routes run parallel for [...]
Col de la Ramaz last featured in the 2003 Tour de France. French hero Richard Virenque won the stage and you can still see his name faintly written along the road. This steady climb really becomes steep and alpine after about 8 kilometres with a narrow stretch along the edge of a cliff that — [...]
