France (all)

The aim of the raid is to cover the 710 kms (440) miles from Hendaye on the Atlantic coast of France to Cerbere on the Mediterranean coast within one hundred hours. Eighteen cols are classified on the route issued by the organising club, the Cyclo Club Bearnais of Pau, and include some of the most famous cols tackled by the Tour de France each year such as the Tourmalet, the Aspin and the Aubisque.

This is the great report of a tour in the Alps that Jobst Brandt did in the summer of '96.

Susa - Montgeneve - Briancon - Col du Lautaret - Col du Galibier - Col du Telegraph - St Michel de Maurienne - Lanslebourg - Mont Cenis - Susa. Km 205.

The part of this region known as the ``Suisse Normande'' is particularly suited to cycle touring (at least by us) - the area is picturesque, (the river, the forests for example), has a number of interesting villages and towns, is quiet at this time of year, has enough ups and downs to be interesting and still easily managable. The food is pretty good, and affordable.

This is the great report of a tour in the Alps that Jobst Brandt did in the summer of '95.

Wayne rides through France, and has a look at the Tour on the way.

From Arrivèe On-Line, Audax UK's quarterly magazine.

A certain Frenchman, Georges Rossini of Thonon on Lake Geneva, has set up four testing Alpine routes, or 'Raids':

• Randonnee Alpine - Thonon to Antibes, 740km and 43 cols through the French Alps.
• Randonnee Alpine - Thonon to Trieste, 1180km and 41 cols through the Swiss and Italian Alps and Dolomites.
• Randonnee Prealpine - Thonon to Antibes, 894km and 47 cols through the French Alps.
• Randonnee Prealpine - Thonon to Venice, 1209km and 69 cols through the Italian Alps and Lakes.

Wayne rides through France, and has a look at the Tour on the way.

In the summer of 1995, my girlfriend Thea and I spent a fortnight on a motoring, camping and cycling holiday in France. Our longest stay was a week camping in Bourg d'Oisans, with the joint aims of seeing the Tour go up Alpe d'Huez, and also cycling up a few mountains ourselves. I was also considering attempting the Marmotte randonee, which coincided with the weekend of our stay.

This was our 10th cycling trip to France but our first north of the Loire river. We were very apprehensive about the weather but our worries were unfounded as Normandy had a sunny and dry summer that year. We travelled with another couple who have joined us for four European trips (and a fifth this year - 1997). We are all middle-aged (actually getting to be late middle-aged). We travel unsupported but we stay in hotels or chambres d'hote (B&B's). We average about 60km per day. We dine well. It's an elegant life we lead!!

Paris-Brest-Paris is the oldest traditional cycling event, started in 1891 by a Frenchman named Giffard who thought it would be a great way to promote cycling, as a test ``not primarily of speed but brains, skill and endurance.'' It was held thereafter every ten years, and since the middle of the century, every four years. Attracting more than 4,000 or so riders from a number of countries, it is a ride of over 1,200 kilometers (about 750 miles) that must be completed within 90 hours.

In the summer of 1995, my girlfriend Thea and I spent a fortnight on a motoring, camping and cycling holiday in France. Our longest stay was a week camping in Bourg d'Oisans, with the joint aims of seeing the Tour go up Alpe d'Huez, and also cycling up a few mountains ourselves. I was also considering attempting the Marmotte randonee, which coincided with the weekend of our stay.

We'd managed just one ride before getting to Bourg d'Oisans. This, around Annecy, included the Col de la Forclaz, claimed by a local friend to feature ``the best view in the Alps'' from the top. We were sadly unable to confirm this, as it was pouring with rain and visibility was down to 20 yards when we got there. A bunch of people in the cafe seemed very amused by us taking photographs of each other in front of a fog bank.

Although there are many areas that I have not toured yet, trips to Lorraine, Alsace, Vosges, Doubs, Alps, Pyrenees, and Provence have all been great.

Very brief: Auvergne, Dordogne, upper Loire region, Languedoc-Roussilion, Ballon d'Alsace.

• 9 August 1994 from 8:30 to 17:50: La Salle-Chamonix by car via Tunnel, then Chamonix - Col des Montets - Col de la Forclaz - Martigny - Col du Grand St. Bernard - Aosta - La Salle; Km 153.
• 12 August 1994 from 7:30 to 20:00: La Salle - Col du Petit St. Bernard - Bourg St. Maurice - Albertville - Beaufort - Col de Saises - Megeve - Chamonix Chamonix-La Salle by car via Tunnel; Km 207.

A very detailed tour description in three chapters: Paris - Rambouillet - Tournoisis - Onzain - Chinon - Ingrandes - La Roche - La Rochelle - Saintes - Morcenx - Biarritz - Cambo - Oloron St. Marie - Lannemezan - St. Girons - Limoux -Carcassonne - St. Pons - St. Rome - Pont de Montvert - Vallon Pont d'Arc - Avignon.

This is the great report of a tour in the Alps that Jobst Brandt did in the summer of '94.

This tour's destination is Briançon in the heart of the French Alps. In the mountains around the village are several ancient forts, and a network of old military roads makes it very suitable for mountain biking. We camp in le Rosier a little outside Briançon. The road from Genève and back again is very hard mountain climbing across some of the highest and most beautiful passes in the Alps. We are two persons carrying our own pack but sharing one tent.

This is a log of a trip I took with my wife Carol and two other couples (Brooke & Rosie Keneford and Jim & Mary Holmes) in July of 1994. In one sense it was a miracle trip because Carol had fallen on the ice in early February and had broken her hip. However, despite her appearance and her ladylike demeanor, she is very determined and as tough as nails. So, barely five months after breaking her femur into two pieces and with a stainless steel plate and a bunch of long screws still in her leg, she was on her bike for a 1100 km cycle trip in France.

The riding along the coast there was great. It was quite hilly; generally, it would be leave a little town, climb up 150m or so to leave the valley, then contour a bit, and soon drop down (sometimes quite quickly- 40+ mph which is a lot since I'm a wimp about going fast) into the next valley with another little town on the sea. There were some impressive ruins and towers on the higher hills further inland, including the Tour Madeloc, which is quite prominent.

I rode from Montpellier, France to Barcelona, Spain at the end of July and beginning of August. This description is of the day I crossed from France into Spain along the Mediterranean.

See also the Biking Gallery of photographs.

[...] I rode past the emerald Lago di Carezza in whose glassy surface the myriad spires of the Latemar (2846m) were mirrored. Then after passing the huge magnificent hotels with massive 1920's architecture near the summit of the Costalunga (1753m), I descended to Pozza di Fassa (1220m) and on to Canazei and turned up the Pso Sella (2257m), the Gardena (2121m), and the Campolongo (1875m) and onward to the Giau (2236m). The view from the Giau was magnificent with the great Dolomites, the majestic Le Tofane, Monte Cristallo, Monte Cadini and the Marmorola above Cortina, clear and bright in the afternoon sun while to the southwest, the glacier glistened on the Marmolada.

This is a log of a month-long cycle tour in south-west France with my wife in the summer of 1993. I've tried to keep it simple, but the rush of great memories made that difficult. With nice pictures.

La Marmotte is one of the toughest and most spectacular one-day events in Europe, only 175km but with well over 5000m of climbing, finishing on that most famous of Tour de France battling grounds, the Alpe d'Huez.

Paris can very quickly lose its charm when you leave the center and enter the ``Banlieue'', the suburbs, but eventually we left Paris at the Porte d'Orl´ans, and rode south towards Orl´ans. After the difficulties crossing Paris we didn't quite make it all the way to Orl´ans, and stayed in a hotel.

This turned out to be a very memorable decision. I am not talking about a motel. This was the house of a family operating some fruit orchards, very old and unremarkable from the outside. We were welcomed by an old lady who led us to a simple but comfortable room upstairs. They had three of these, but we were the only guests. Dinner was served in their large poorly-lit living room. The old lady asked what we would like to eat, and then proceeded to her kitchen to prepare the food. It was delicious. I wish I had written down the name of the village.

The adventure of riding over Frut to Tannalp and Engsteln from Sarnen was out of the question because the snow level was about 1500 meters and I am not so hot on trails on cliffs in the snow. We rode over the Brunig (1008 m) and down to Meiringen, where we wolfed down some good bratwurst with potato(e) salad, hot soup, and good fresh whole-wheat bread.

The rain lifted in the morning as we rode up the Grosse Scheidegg (1961m), directly beneath the face of the Wetterhorn that was making artillery like sounds as enormous icefalls crashed down its walls before we broke out of the clouds. By the time we could see the mountain, the show was over. About 15 cm of new snow made a beautiful spring scene as we reached the summit where Eiger, Moench, and Jungfrau with their glacial appendages made a striking appearance in spite of grey skies.

The climb [up the Izoard] crosses a false summit from which the rest of the road is visible on the opposite side of the canyon. After stopping at the Coppi memorial for a picture I found mysterious power for the last two kilometers and rode like 30 years ago feeling no limits but the size of the carburetor bore as I breathed at max volume. Marc asked, ``what happened back there?'' when he arrived at the top. It was great!

Fünf Jahre nach der ersten Reise, im Herbst 1992: Rad fahren und Bergwandern auf einer Tour? Nun, vom Pré de Madame Carle lassen sich zwei sehr schöne Hütten im Gebiet der Barre des Écrins erreichen. Und so machen wir uns mit Fahrradtaschen und in Turnschuhen auf den Weg über den Gletscher. Wenn wir nicht Bergsteigen, dann quälen wir uns über Schotterstraßen hinauf zum Col du Grand Parpaillon...

This is a log of a cycle tour in France that I took with my wife Carol and two friends in the summer of 1992. Although we landed in and departed from Lyon, the entire trip took place in the south, east of Toulouse. As with all our tours, although we carry everything with us on our bikes, we don't camp. (Been there! Done that!) Instead we stay in hotels (or the occasional B&B) and we usually eatin restaurants.

Rad fahren und Bergwandern auf einer Tour? Ja, das geht! Es ist noch gar nicht so lange her: Im Herbst 1992 unternehme Am frühen Morgen bei Corpsich zusammen mit Jörg Eigemann eine Reise nach Südfrankreich, die als Radtour gedacht ist. Wir fahren von Bonn mit dem Wagen nach Luxemburg und über Metz, Dijon und Lyon nach Grenoble, wo wir wenig später bei strömendem Regen auf die Route Napol´on einschwenken. Wir haben - Dank der Geistesgegenwart von Jörg - bereits einen Platten am linken Vorderrad bei Tempo 160 überlebt, Mont Dauphin - Der Fels Von Eygliersda kann uns das Wetter nicht mehr schrecken. Wir übernachten in einem billigen Hotel in Corps, nur etwa 100 km von unserem Ziel Eygliers bei Guillestre entfernt, gelegen am Mont Dauphin.

In the morning we headed back up the hill in a light drizzle that turned to snow just below Gletsch. But wait there's more. As we entered the high valley below the Rhone Glacier and Furka Pass (2431m), we saw snow blowing about in brilliant sunshine on the summit. It was so cold and dry our clothes were completely dry as was the road where the snow just blew to the gutter. The drifts of powdery snow on the summit were so deep that my bicycle would stand alone in it. It was an exhilarating climb with storybook weather.

I passed the closed Lingotto FIAT plant, with test track on the roof, that is being refurbished as an automotive trade center. The modern streetcars with antique trolley poles and bronze trolley wheels wend their way between ancient buildings on narrow streets paved with 0.5x1.0m red and tan granite plates set at a 45 degrees. The rushing sound of the trolley wheel on the wire is truly a sound from the past for me, reminiscent of four trolley tracks on San Francisco's Market Street in my youth.

This is a log of a cycle trip we (my wife Carol and I) took with two friends (Heather and Peter Stark) to southwestern France in the summer of 1991. I am finally (ten years later) getting around to writing it up because I am now REALLY retired and I am feeling guilty that I haven't done it before now. Because of the delay I'm sure I'll miss some important things but there is also an advantage because I now have the experience of ten more European cycle tours and can bring that to my recollections of this trip. As always, I depend on my wife's excellent journal of the trip as my aide memoire. I could never write these reports without it. We cycle unsupported (i.e., no ``sag wagon''); we stay in hotels; we eat our evening meals in restaurants. As you get older you will allow yourselves these luxuries.

The Iseran probably earns the ``highest pass in France'' title, being actually higher and because it is steep, spectacular, and is surrounded by glaciers and snow. When you're there you know there's a There there. This is truly the haute Savoie, whose red and white emblem was the inspiration for the emigrants who took their red flag with the white cross along as they founded Switzerland.

The Stelvio may not be the hardest, longest or anything else, but it has a special place in my heart for its magnificent and exquisitely orchestrated landscape. It seems to have its own Wagnerian accompaniment, magnificent and grand. I have ridden it in every weather and it is always an emotional moment at the top with the ice caps of the Ortler and snowfields of the Gran Zebru as a backdrop to the road that drops 1000m into the canyon in the Shadows of this deep ravine. Forty nine numbered hairpin turns and 2000m below lies the valley.

Cycling in the Pyrenees is both exiting and relentless. Here are some of the steepest and longest climbs in Europe, and I experience a few of the well known. I ride my touring bike and sleep in hotels. After a weeks struggling I go north to Dordogne. There are several castles around and the atmosphere is medieval. There are several caves, too. It was about here the Cro-Magnon man was found.

This is a trip through some of the most beautiful mountain scenarios in the French Alps. A great part of the route follows road D902 - Route des Grandes Alpes - and on the way I cross some of the greatest Tour de France passes. The touring bike has triple chainrings, so even the steepest slopes are managed without problems. I ride alone, don't carry much pack and stay in hotels overnight. Using only six days for the trip I spend the remaining holidays at Côte d'Azur.

Herbst 1987: Die erste Radtour in den französischen Alpen. Col de la Croix de Fer, Galibier, Col d'Izoard, Col de Vars, Restefond/la Bonette (2802 m), Col de la Couillole und Col d'Allos heißen die Eckpunkte dieser Reise. Zwar fahren wir an 8 Tagen gerade einmal 660 km weit, aber dabei überwinden wir über 14000 Höhenmeter.

My first trip to the Alps and Provence is a lightweight tour on a road bike with just a handlebar bag for the luggage. I stay in hotels overnight. The route includes a few passes known from Tour de France. This, however, turns out to be somewhat hasty. At least I get some hard-earned experience - both with respect to gear ratios and my own ability. But it's surely beautiful, and standing at the Col du Galibier summit for the first time is very self-satisfactory.