Author: Will

I’d like to thank the Steel Wheelers for a very warm welcome to their regular Wednesday evening ride up my home mountain. The Plan It’s a social cycling club with a simple, well executed plan. They meet every Wednesday evening and cycle up the steep side of Le Salève via Le Coin. It’s a great, great road, with a bunch of wonderful hairpins. But tough. Members can meet at pre-determined times either at a designated point in down-town Geneva, or at Le Coin, where the steep part of the climb begins. I joined at Le Coin. From Le Coin, everyone…

(Yes, I am going through a “gorges phase”) A couple of weeks ago, while shameless Col Hunting in the Jura mountains, my route briefly entered Les Gorges de l’Ain. I decided to return to more thoroughly explore the gorge. This route generally follows Route 22 of the official l’Ain cycling route network. The only real difficulty was when I deviated from route 22 to climb Col du Berthiand – see map below. Berthiand will appear early in stage 15 of the 2016 Tour de France. It’s less than 7 kms long, but surprisingly steep in places. Note, I started below…

Cycle Route 3496365 – via Bikemap.net Lac de Sainte-Croix is an artificial lake created in 1973 with the construction of the Barrage (dam) de Sainte Croix at the foot of Les Gorges du Verdon. This is not the toughest loop, but scenic and relaxing. However, starting beside the beautiful perched village of Moustiers-Sainte-Marie, almost immediately are a couple of very steep kilometres climbing to the plateau on the north side of the lake. Le Cycle Magazine claims it’s a full kilometre at +16%. I’d say 13%. Regardless, this is the major difficulty of the loop. This north side is well…

The words “gorge” and “gorgeous” both apparently derive from the same old French word “gorgias” – fine/elegant, or a fancy necklace. In any case, without a doubt some of the most gorgeous cycling in France is through its many gorges. And the most impressive must be Les Gorges du Verdon (the French use the plural: gorges). “If this phenomenon of geological splendour was in the UK it would be the wonder of the British Isles.” Cyclist Magazine – May 2016 This route is two loops: The bigger loop rides around both sides of the gorge, while the interior loop, climbs…

Lac de Castillon, just above the Gorges du Verdon, is an artificial lake created by the dam of the same name: Barrage de Castillon. In fact, the dam here has basically widened the Verdon river into this beautiful lake. Cycle Route 3493371 – via Bikemap.net

Some shameless Col hunting in the north-west corner of the French Jura mountains. 6 very low cols (all marked on map) on a pleasant loop. The highlight? Briefly cycling through the Gorges de l’Ain. Cycle Route 3486075 – via Bikemap.net L’Ain is the French department just north/west of Geneva.  It has 33 official and signed road bike routes.   The routes range in difficulty from easy in the super flat, man-made-lake Dombe region to some of the toughest climbs in France in the Haut-Bugey section of the Jura mountains – for example the legendary Grand Colombier (2016 Tour de France). You can…

Known locally as the European Grand Canyon, the Gorges de l’Ardèche is a 30 kilometre-long canyon between Vallon-Pont-d’Arc and Saint-Martin-d’Ardèche. It’s paradise on a bike. Map, photos, etc.

This great loop visits 4 cols, three new to me, and Col de Portes from a couple of new sides. This is one of those rides that I describe as having far more kilometre markers than cars. Superb cycling.

Le Semnoz is the huge massif on the west side of Lake Annecy. It is the highest paved cycling climb in the region. I prefer the quieter south side. Map, photos, profile, etc.

Another of my favourite late-winter alpine cycling climbs. With the added bonus of cross-country skiing at the summit.