Anyone planning to ride in the French alps this summer ? ...

[cedfromfrance]

Hello Everyone,
If anyone is interested to cycle in the French alps this year, please give me a shout I am from Albertville and I would be very honoured to help if I can or possibly cycle with you around here.
Happy cycling.
Ced x

 

[ASC1951]

Salut!

I'm in Les Menuires, down the valley from Val Thorens, with a road bike at the beginning of August.

One ride I want to do is a circuit up over the Col d'Iseran. The shortest all-tarmac route is about 150 miles and beyond me as a day ride, so I have a scheme for taking the bike up on a ski lift to the Col de Thorens and then down another one to the Maurienne road. That would knock 40 miles or so off the route and make it do-able for me. Do you happen to know, Ced, if the lifts overlap there in that way? I don't mind carrying my bike for a few hundred yards.

 

[dhague]

Hi Ced,

Maybe you could help me with some local knowledge: for the Tour de France stage 9, I'll be in St Jean de Maurienne with my wife to see the stage finish. Can you recommend a bar where we can spend the afternoon watching the stage on TV?

Ideally, this would be a place with WiFi internet access so that I can listen to the English commentary online.

Thanks in advance,
Darren

 

[ASC1951]

...and silence was the reply.

 

[cedfromfrance]

Salut!

I'm in Les Menuires, down the valley from Val Thorens, with a road bike at the beginning of August.

One ride I want to do is a circuit up over the Col d'Iseran. The shortest all-tarmac route is about 150 miles and beyond me as a day ride, so I have a scheme for taking the bike up on a ski lift to the Col de Thorens and then down another one to the Maurienne road. That would knock 40 miles or so off the route and make it do-able for me. Do you happen to know, Ced, if the lifts overlap there in that way? I don't mind carrying my bike for a few hundred yards.

Hello, sorry for the silence, I have not been on this website since . This is cool that you are coming to Val Tho. in august. You can already forget the idea of taking the lift up to col de Thorens, you'll end up on a glacier, and the Orelle lift which could take you down to the Maurienne valley is closed in summer... You need to cycle down, take a train from Moutiers to St Pierre d'Albigny and an other one to Modane. Depending on when you are here, as I am from Albertville, I could take you up to Bourg St Maurice for example and we could cycle up together, or/and possibly cycle some other cols. Let me know.
Where about in Yorkshire are you from ?
Ced x

 

[cedfromfrance]

Hi Ced,

Maybe you could help me with some local knowledge: for the Tour de France stage 9, I'll be in St Jean de Maurienne with my wife to see the stage finish. Can you recommend a bar where we can spend the afternoon watching the stage on TV?

Ideally, this would be a place with WiFi internet access so that I can listen to the English commentary online.

Thanks in advance,
Darren

Hi Darren, thanks for your message The place to be in St Jean during the Tour will be the Bar du commerce http://www.bar-du-commerce.com/les-bars.html. I have been there during some football matches and I know that they have a wide screen where you can see most important sport events. I am 100% sure they will show the Tour and the atmosphere should be great ! Not so sure that they have a wifi internet access but I can assure you that you will have fun with the french commentaries And as this is only about 200m away from the stage finish, you can even see them live just before they enter St Jean !!
One advise though, get into St Jean early because you might struggle to find parking spots if you arrive late.
How long will you be staying around in Savoie ? Do you cycle ? Ced x
Welcome to France !!

 

[dhague]

Hi Ced,

Yes, I will be taking part in L'Arvan Villards cyclosportive on Sunday 11th July - I'm doing the Grand Parcours. We'll be staying in Jarrier for easy access to the start.

Apart from the challenge of cycling the route, my other great challenge for the weekend will be understanding enough French language to actually make it to the start...

Cheers,
Darren

 

[cedfromfrance]

Hi Ced,

Yes, I will be taking part in L'Arvan Villards cyclosportive on Sunday 11th July - I'm doing the Grand Parcours. We'll be staying in Jarrier for easy access to the start.

Apart from the challenge of cycling the route, my other great challenge for the weekend will be understanding enough French language to actually make it to the start...

Cheers,
Darren

Sounds like a good plan ! I did the Col de la Croix de Fer last sunday This is a great climb even though it was so hot, even at the top (I didn't need my windproof to cycle down) How long are you staying in the Maurienne area ? If you like we could do some cycling in the area ? One of my next Tour will be to cycle the Col des Aravis and Saisies starting from Albertville. Ced x

 

[dhague]

Hi Ced,

I'm visiting Savoie with my (non-cycling) wife from Saturday 10th until Tuesday 13th, so the only cycling I'll be doing for this trip is the cyclosportif. I get Sunday for my cycling, and Tuesday to watch the TdF in St Jean de Maurienne - Saturday and Monday we go wherever my wife wants to go...

This is my first visit to the Alps, so if everything goes well then we might be back next year for more. I want to climb Alpe d'Huez and many of the other famous cols, that's for sure.

Cheers,
Darren