Author: Will

On the way to cycle the 2014 Maratona dles Dolomites, we stopped for a night in the beautiful vineyard-surrounded village of Caldaro – near Bolzano. Caldaro has a lovely car-free square full of restaurants. It is a perfect stop-over village. It was late on a hot afternoon, and I had no plans to cycle. But I had seen Passo della Mendola signs and so I asked at the hotel reception where the pass was. The friendly lady at the check-in desk pointed straight above the hotel. Ten minutes later I was on my bike! What a great way to eliminate…

Alpine cols aren’t usually ever that crowded. But the most famous attract plenty of traffic in summer. I had been passed by perhaps a thousand motorcycles a couple of weeks ago on Cormet de Roselend (like Izoard, part of the Route des Grandes Alpes). So what a joy to cycle the legendary Col d’Izoard with both sides closed to motorised traffic. At 2360 metres, Col d’Izoard will be the highest point in the upcoming 2014 Tour de France. This was part of the Hautes-Alpes region’s “Col Reservés” program. See here for more bike-only days in the Alps. My plans weren’t…

La Planche des Belles Filles will be the final climb of Stage 10 of the 2014 Tour de France. My plan: A beautiful loop through the Vosges mountains visiting Col du Ballon d’Alsace, Col des Croix, Col du Ballon de Servance, and finally: my first time climbing to La Panche des Belles Filles. Cycle Route 2693581 – via Bikemap.net According to legend, during the 30 years war (1618-1648), a group of young girls jumped to their death the avoid being raped and massacred by Swedish mercenaries. Hence the name La Planche des Belles Filles or “The Plank of the Beautiful…

Great alternate route up to Col de Sarenne via Col de Cluy

My cycling goal today was to climb Col du Mont Cenis, visit the amazing side road to Col du Petit Mont Cenis, then leave the paved roads and see if I could get a bike up the “elephant” route to Col de Clapier.

I have skied a few times at Megève but never cycled there (at least not on the ski slopes). Starting down on the valley floor below St. Gervais, the goal was to climb to Mont Joux while visiting the wonderfully named Col de Christ. Stage 19 of the 2016 Tour de France will finish at Bettex. But if you want to go higher, bring a mountain bike and follow this route. I probably made a mistake doing this on a realtively cloudy day, as the climb is in the face of Mont Blanc and the views would have been so…

A fun 6 Col loop. The beautiful Chartreuse (Alps) Massif lies between Chambéry and Grenoble. Starting from dowtown Chambéry, my goal was to mountain bike up into the massif through a little gap at Col du Mollard, on a forest trail/road — while visiting a bunch of Cols. Cycle Route 2668071 – via Bikemap.net For quite a few road biking routes in the Chartreuse Alps see here. I started near the Université de Savoie – who would have guess it was built on a hill? Almost immediately I was in the countryside, winding up a steep little paved road. After…

The best weather of the year so far. Doreen and I were in Bourg St- Maurice for the weekend. Our hotels was perhaps 100 metres from the start of Cormet de Roselend. We climbed together, enjoying the fabulous hairpins half way up. Doreen was strong, and we counted off the kilometre markings at a decent pace. For details of Cormet de Roselend from Beaufort see here for the direct route and here for the best route via Col du Pré. This beautiful climb gets better, and better as one gets above the tree line. Unfortunately, we ran into a serious…

A truly fantastic ride high into the Beaufortain Alps. Cormet d’Arèches (2107 metres) is an unpaved mountain pass that links the Tarentaise valley to Beaufort. Most of the route is deserted, and surrounded by high mountains. Fun. My goal was to climb the south side of Cormet d’Arèches, and then attempt to visit a couple of higher nearby cols on unpaved trails. I started from the Aime train station down low in the Tarentaise valley. The first several kilometres hairpin up through little villages offering nice views of the valley below and La Plagne ski resort across the valley. Granier…

High in the mountains of the Canton of Valais are several huge alpine dams, including some of the tallest in the world (eg. Grande Dixence, Mauvoisin). Some of the biggest and most beautiful cycling climbs I know are up to these dams. See more here. The Barrage de Tseuzier (or Zeuzier) is yet another high altitude dam in the region. Most big climbs get better and better as one gets higher. But this climb, starting from Saint-Leonard (near Sion – see map below) is great from the very start. The Valais is the biggest wine producing region in Switzerland, and…