Browsing: French Alps

Below zero at the bottom. And plenty of snow up top.

The high Alps passes won’t open for another 6 or 7 months (!) and the snow has now even arrived down low.

But winter doesn’t mean that one can’t continue to cycle uphill.

A challenging but really fun three Col loop, with two of the Cols not really designed for bikes.

You know it’s a difficult loop when Col de Joux Plane is the easy climb.

Back in May, we hiked up to Chalet des Auges above Col des Glières. We were astonished to see a mountain biker there. Upon interrogation we discovered that there is a terrible quality, old road up the back way, starting in Entremont.

A fantastic mountain biking loop starting from Megève ski station.

Every time I have cycled Galibier, I have eyed a nearby old military road full of hairpins.

Col de Recon is a quiet, steep, scenic little climb in the beautiful Abondance valley – famous for “Abondance” cows and cheese.

I had no idea of the plan, but I knew that we wouldn’t be doing something as standard as climbing Alpe d’Huez.

The huge mountain massif between Grenoble and Chambéry is the Parc naturel régional de Chartreuse. Beautiful mountains and some great cycling.