Author: Will

This ride includes two gravel adventures. First climbing from Valloire to the top of its Ski Station (2534 metres) via at least 35 hairpins. Then some superb gravel up a truly beautiful hidden valley parallel to the paved Galibier road but surrounded by high mountains, and then a slightly crazy ascent to Col de la Plagnette – bike pushing involved. Woohoooo ! My wife and I were staying in Valloire for three nights. Our plan was to do several big hikes and I was allowed one (one!) bike ride. So I chose it carefully. In fact, I used our first…

I am still here! I have been mainly riding locally or visiting nearby bigger climbs that I have written about endlessly (Joux Plane, Croix Fry, Colombière, etc). But thank-you for all the kind emails worrying about me! 🙂 Here is a new fun adventure. An unpaved ride up to Col du Mont Cenis and its lake then up higher to the Ancien Fort de Pattacreuse (2385m). I started in Lanslebourg exactly at the start of the 10 km paved climb to Mont Cenis, but immediately jumped onto a good quality unpaved road. It’s at times quite steep, but very peaceful…

Today is the end of the 17th year of this blog and thus the end of my 17th annual cycling challenge. How did I do versus my 2021 Cycling Challenge (details here)? Well … there’s some good news and some bad news. For obvious reasons I didn’t stray far from home very often. And problems from my neck/spine fracture a couple of years ago has made very long rides difficult. But I stayed active, cycling 250 times and hiking more than a 100 times in 2021. The Good News: I did achieve my primary goal of 160,200 metres of vertical…

Busy doing your Christmas shopping? Looking for a 2022 cycling or cow calendar? Well, look no further. For obvious reasons the majority of my cycling was local this year, so I’ve made only two calendars for 2022: A cycling calendar and a cows calendar. Moo! There is only one size this year: (11 x 8.5 in / 279 x 216 mm) Price: $10.99, or €9.39 or a similar amount in other currencies. Global delivery is reliable. Lulu.com, the publisher, sometimes has coupon codes available to lower the price. Use google to search for a coupon code in your geography. For…

Yes, I am still here. I know I haven’t posted in a long time. Sorry. I am still riding. But for various reasons this year it’s been mainly from home. Wooohoo! A fabulous ride in the dark freezing cold to see the sunrise with my great friends Richard and Tim. A good sunrise ride requires an unimpeded view towards the sunrise. The goal is always to arrive at least 10 minutes before the sunrise to enjoy the changing sky. It was cold and windy so we were heavily dressed and all had bike lights ready for this lovely 12.7 kilometre…

Cormet de Roselend is one of the more beautiful climbs in the Alps. But remember, the best route is not via the main Route des Grandes Alpes road that climbs the north and south sides. Instead, take the 3rd way up via Col du Pré, like the Critériun du Dauphiné will on June 5th. Col du Pré is a challenging beautiful climb with 26 hairpins and high mountain views in all directions. And just beyond the summit is one of the great views in the Alps down towards Lac de Roselend. And best of all? To get to Cormet de…

Yes, I am still here! My first adventure not starting from home since the end of the most recent French lockdown. The route? Col de la Colombière “the hard way” via Romme. These will be the feature two climbs during stage eight of the 2021 Tour de France. See bottom of post for the stage profile. The climb to Romme is steep! It begins as a little cliff road right beside the autoroute. The moment the road turns up there is this welcoming sign: The local joke of course is “Tous les chemins mènent à Romme” (All roads lead to…

Woohoo, my first ride not starting from home in 6 months. I was motivated as yesterday was my first ride of 2021 in shorts, and tonight France is almost certainly going to announce stricter lockdown conditions. 🙁 Part of my 2021 Cycling Challenge was to climb 100 cols, so I needed to get moving as I’ve been cycling the 5 cols near me over and over. 🙂 The loop climbs Col de Richemond (1060m) then visits several nearby Cols atop the Plateau de Retord, finally descending back to the start via Col de Cuvery (1178m). See bottom map with all…

I hope everyone is doing well. I know, it’s been a while since I posted. Between COVID, winter, and a couple of other things – I’ve only ridden from home so far this year. No new adventures … yet. But I’ve been riding a lot locally. I am actually on pace for my 2021 Challenge of cycling uphill one foot for every single minute of the year. 🙂 525,600 minutes = 525,600 feet = 160,200 metres. Hopefully, I’ll get more adventurous at some point soon. But here are a few photos of recent rides. Be well.

2021 would be the 17th year of my silly annual cycling challenges. Back in 2005, I was an occasional cyclist and challenged myself to ride 10,000 kilometres. Now I am addicted to riding my bike. See here for my 2020 Cycling Challenge results. I must admit that I have come close to ending this blog after this depressing year. Me on twitter a few hours ago. 🙂 I am considering ending my blog and simply posting photos of "benches with a view" 🙂 pic.twitter.com/hiCNoBWGKV— cyclingchallenge (@cyclingalps) December 31, 2020 But fuck it. Yes, 2020 sucked. But let’s have some hope.…