Tour de France Cols

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

End of the Summer

We are recovering from our last Tour of the year and what a week!

The Tour du Mont Blanc is quickly becoming established as a 'must do' with rides such as Geneva - Nice. The ride can be done as a point to point Tour, or alternatively, as we prefer, we spend just one night away from our Chamonix base. We adopt this approach for several reasons. We know the quality of our accommodation, we know we provide great food, the Hot Tub will be on, and the little things such as wi-fi connection and satellite TV. All things that can be compromised when staying with 3rd party accommodation providers.

Day one we left the comfort of Chalet Annabelle for the gently climb over the Col des Montets and over the Swiss border before ascending the Col de la Forclaz. After this is the superb non-technical descent to the Roman town of Martigny before joining the final climb of the day to Champex du Lac. This last ascent is pretty tough over approx 10km's however you are rewarded at the summit with a late lunch by a gorgeous lake.

Day two we were greeted by torrential rain in the morning so we opted to dodge the storm, and ride the final section of the Grand St Bernard pass before dropping down into the Aosta Valley and taking on the epic Col San Carlo. This Col was used in the 2006 Giro D'Italia for a time trial stage. Its 10km's long and gains 1000M so even I can do the maths on that one! Each kilometer marker reminds you exactly how steep it is. Attached is a clip from the Col earlier in the year - fast forward to 1min 13 secs






Descending to La Thuile and down to Pre St Didier, its just a short transfer in the van back to Chalet Annabelle through the Mont Blanc tunnel.

Day 3 and we are in Annecy away from the Tour du Mont Blanc for a recovery day and a loop of the lake. Not without climbing the French Col de la Forclaz! This is a short challenging climb however the reward at the summit is a stunning view of Lake Annecy


Descending to the lake for lunch, Annecy is a stunning setting and if the rumours are correct we will be back here on the other side of the lake next July for the final Time Trial of the 100th Tour de France








Day 4 and its the big one! Sometimes when you mention a challenge to guests you live to regret it but not today! We're back through the Mont Blanc tunnel and straight onto the 26km Col de St Petit Bernard. Italian coffee at the 2640M summit, its a 30km descent back into France and down to Bourg St Maurice. After 150meters of flat road, we turn right onto the 19km Cormet de Roseland topping out at 1960M. Descending towards the azure waters of the Roseland dam and onto Beaufort its decision time! Normally we'd jump in the van at this point however onwards, and upwards we're onto the 15km climb of the Col des Saisies, a Tour de France regular. Thankfully the weather is cooling off as we reach the summit of this little known ski resort and descending down to the more popular ritzy resort of Megeve. We're on the last lap and continuing into the Sallanches valley before the gentle climb back into the Chamonix Valley over the cote du Vaudagne. One last climb up to the Chalet and we've completed 170km, 4300M of climbing in just over 8 hours of riding. A BreatheBike first!






Day 5 and the rain is back so we're pleased we made the most of yesterday. A quick ride over the Aravis and Croix Fry and then back to Chalet Annabelle

A fantastic week with great guests!Now its down to planning for next years Tour de France and our 2013 schedule, with one last cyclosportive (Gran Fondo) in Annecy this weekend. Plus some rest!