This page was last updated Wed 24 February 2010.
Contents: Tours (311) Trails (10) Sites (11) Cycling info pages (16) Organizations and clubs (5)
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This page lists all reports that for France including those that involve other countries too.
Click here for a list of reports that involve only France.
All descriptions are in English, unless otherwise noted.
| Durch die französischen Alpen II
tour started 1992 Europe: France
language: de
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. |
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| Tour of the Alps 1991
tour started 1991 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. |
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| Cycling Southwest France 1991 - Gascony, the Pays Basque, the Périgord-Quercy and the Rouergue
tour started 1991 Europe: France
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. |
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| Tour of the Alps 1990
tour started 1990 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. |
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| Perpignan - Cénac, including the Tourmalet
tour started 1989 Europe: France
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. |
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| Mâcon - Menton
tour started 1988 Europe: France
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. |
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| Durch die französischen Alpen I - Auf den Spuren der Tour de France
tour started 1987 Europe: France
language: de
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. |
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| Mâcon - Orange
tour started 1987 Europe: France
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. |
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| Paris - Leer 1985
tour started 1985 language: de
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| Paris-Brest-Paris 1975
tour started 1975 Europe: France
That year, 666 cyclists started. There were 19 women, 17 riding solo and two stoking tandems. I had never seen so many bicycles in one place. I picked up my control book. It had a hand-drawn American flag and a typed English translation of the rules. I found out that seven other Americans were starting. |
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| Land-bound circumnavigation of the Mediterranean Sea
Europe: Albania, Algeria, Bosnia, Croatia, Cyprus, Egypt, France, Gibraltar, Greece, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Malta, Monaco, Morocco, Palestine, Slovenia, Spain, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey, Yugoslavia
Welcome to the first "wired" human-powered (bicycle), land-bound circumnavigation of the Mediterranean Sea. The team have concluded their journey, but they are continuing to add reports to this site. |
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| Cycle Odyssey home page
Europe: UK, Holland, Belgium, France, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Italy, Greece, Turkey
On these pages we will show you the cycling pursuits of John and Daniel Gould (from Australia) and our friend Peter (from Japan).Our challenge will be to ride from London to Istanbul through 12 countries in 2 months while having a great time and seeing the sights. Peter should be there to Italy and then its just 2 unless anyone else wants to join us. For father and son John and Daniel the quest will also try to raise money for Odyssey House. |
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| Veloreisen
language: de
Many tour reports:
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| Alpenpässe mit dem Fahrrad/Passes of the Alps by bicycle
language: de, en
Passes in Switzerland, in France and in Italy are described on this site. The most important information for cyclist in figures and texts, of course some pictures and partly historical backgrounds. In addition tips to accommodations, maps and (at the moment mainly german) links. |
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| Archivio salite d'Europa/European climbs
Europe: Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, CzechRepublic, Croatia, France, Germany, Greece, UK, Ireland, Iceland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Norway, Portugal, Romania, SanMarino, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Hungary
language: it, de, fr, en
Tabular data and altitude profiles of mountain passes all over Europe. |
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| Bums on Bikes
Read the exciting story of the middle-aged couple who cycled over 6000 kilometres around Europe. Travelling from their home in southern England, they rode down the west coast of France before peddling on into Spain and Portugal - enduring the best and worst of Europe's weather! Their adventures are described here for you to enjoy, and maybe encourage you to do the same! |
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| Alpen Pass Photo Sketch
language: jp
A photo album of mountain passes in the Alps |
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| Border Hopping in the Pyrénées
The Coast-to-Coast Route covered 1000miles (1600km) beginning in Hendaye on the Atlantic Ocean and finishing in Collioure on the Mediterranean Sea. |
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| On the Road to Nowhere - Nowhere is the Place
Europe, Africa, America, Asia: Japan, Italy, Morocco, SouthAfrica, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Madagascar, NewZealand, USA, Canada, Mexico, France, SouthAfrica, Thailand, Laos, Malaysia, UK
A site filled with tours all over Europe, Africa, Asia, and America. |
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| Op de fiets
language: nl
Several cycling travel stories and detailed descriptions with profiles of 17 of the most beautiful climbs in 7 different European countries. |
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| Cycling from the Baltic Sea to the Alps
language: en, de, se
From the cycling pages of Karl Brodowsky: see the German Version for plenty of interesting reports in German. |
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| Francis & Sheila' Virtual Alps
A great photo archive. Each page includes no more than 3 photos, on average, 25,000 bytes. We hope you enjoy them. There is a help page if you are having difficulty viewing the images. The photos are not of printable quality - if you wish to use any of these pictures in a hardcopy publication, please contact us and we will supply a high-resolution file. |
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| Blood, Sweat and Tears - Cycling in the mountains
Europe, Australia, America: Norway, Switzerland, Italy, France, Australia, UK, Spain, USA, Peru, Canada, Iceland
language: en, nl
Reports and pictures from various mountains of Europe, America, and Australia. Partly in Dutch. |
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| The Mountain Site
A huge collection of altitude profiles of cols and climbs. |
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| Patrick Schleppi's Bicycle Pages
language: en, fr, de
Extensive data about Patrick's extensive tours in the Alps from 1991 to 2005: includes reports, maps, diagrams... a must-see for the Alpine cyclist. Contains a list of passes in the Alps and the Jura, true stories about cycling, and some pictures. |
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| An 8-Day Bike Trip on Corsica
Europe: France
Few words, many photos. |
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| Loire Valley
Europe: France
language: en, it
Nicely illustrated. Italian versions. |
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| Britanny
Europe: France
language: en, it
Nicely illustrated. Italian versions. |
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| Holland, Normandie, Bretagne
Many of the towns in the Normandie have unusually large cathedrals. Eu was no exception. The cathedral is built on a hill. There is a youth hostel built into the base of the hill under the cathedral. It was more expensive than average (FF 93) but definitely worth the price. The picture to the right shows the hallway leading to the rooms, each with a vaulted ceiling and its own bathroom. Recommended. |
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| Tour of the Alps 1960
tour started 1960 Jobst's 1960 tour started and ended in Tuscany. The Net was not in place yet, so the report had to wait... |
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| Tour of the Alps 1959
tour started 1959 Well, there's a first time for everybody, and Jobst too had to discover the Alps once. If you are looking for the inspiration to do it yourself, just go ahead and read this glorious report. I had asked Mr Cinelli what the greatest road in the Alps was, to which he replied without hesitation, the Stelvio, but that I might not like it because it was unpaved. That especially caught my interest so here I was heading up the Valtellina at Tirano where the road to the foot of this great pass starts its climb. I arrived in Bormio at 3:30 and decided to go to the top in beautiful afternoon sunshine. After a snack at the store I headed up the road that ran out of pavement at the city limit and became a coarse gravel and grey powdery road that, with a little rain, was pretty solid. I discovered that standing up easily caused wheel spin, so I pulled my straps tight and worked on a smooth stroke to keep traction. Farther up the Braulio canyon the road went through several tunnels for avalanche and rockfall protection. These stone arch tunnels wind along the wall with ventilation holes near the floor that give a little light, and because they are not straight, I could only see where I was going from reflections from the wet floor. Everything was dripping and water rushed in drains under the walls. The amazing part is that these are one lane tunnels in which uphill traffic has the right of way, as is common here. Therefore, downhill drivers had to assess when to enter by watching what went in from below, something that is possible from the lay of the land. I was discovering why Pirelli named their top racing car tire the Stelvio. This has a special meaning to people who know this road. At the end of the Braulio canyon the road goes up a wall in a series of traverses with tight hairpins to reach the upper Braulio Valley at Bocca di Braulio, that ends at a ridge over which the Umbrail pass from Switzerland joins the Stelvio, about three kilometers below the summit. |
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| Alpi Bike. Travesía de los Alpes en BTT (Trieste-Ventimiglia)
tour started July 2009, submitted 14 December 2009 language: es
Travesía de los Alpes de este a oeste, que une Trieste y Ventimiglia . Circula Cinco países: Italia, Eslovenia, Austria, Suiza y Francia. Los macizos montañosos más conocidos de los Alpes: A. Julianos, A. Cárnicos, Dolomitas , Adamello-Pressanella, Ortler, Engadina, Bernina y Bregaglia, lagos de Como y Maggiore, Monte Rosa, Mont Blanc, Gran Paradiso, Monviso, Alpes Marítimos y Mercantour. Recorrido realizado en solitario en 43 días (del 4 de julio al 15 de agosto de 2009). Son unos 2.100 kilómetros y cerccerca de 60.000 metros de desnivel (media diaria: 50 km. y 1.400 m.). Coincide en muchos tramos con al Vía Alpina, Alta Vía Cárnica, Tour del Monte Rosa, Tour del Mont Blanc, Alta Vía del Valle de Aosta y Vía de la Sale. Cruza collados por encima de los 2.500 metros (Tarscher Pass, Stelvio, Cassana, Turlo, Salati, Bettaforca, Nana, Malatrá, Chavannes, Chivasso, Longia y Sibolet). Cicloturismo de montaña en estado puro. El sueño de todo biker de atravesar todos los Alpes. |
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| Trailsource
tour started 2005 Trailsource has started a collection, among others, of European Mountain Bike Trail Descriptions. Mountain Biking TrailSource is your online adventure guide to the best mountain bike trails around the globe! You'll find over 4,000 singletracks in 100 countries. |
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| In Search of Singletrack in the Alps
tour started 2000 We flew from Stockholm to Geneva. Then we biked along the southern shore of Lac Leman, crossed Pass des Morgines, headed up the Rhone valley, and made a side trip to Zermatt. Then, we continued to Brigg, Davos, St Moritz, Livigno, Canazei, and Cortina. From Cortina we headed south to Lago di Garda. Reaching the Plains of Po approaching Milan we spontaneously decided to take a train to San Reno, and continue from there to Monaco, Nice and up through the mountains to Chamonix, ultimately heading back to Geneva for our return flight to Sweden. There are plenty of excellent reports on cycling along these roads [...] and we feel we have little to contribute. Instead these pages are focused on the possibilities of single track riding. |
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| In Search of Singletrack in the Alps
tour started 2000 Includes trail descriptions in Switzerland, Italy and France. We flew from Stockholm to Geneva. Then we biked along the southern shore of Lac Leman, crossed Pass des Morgines, headed up the Rhone valley, and made a side trip to Zermatt. Then, we continued to Brigg, Davos, St Moritz, Livigno, Canazei, and Cortina. From Cortina we headed south to Lago di Garda. Reaching the Plains of Po approaching Milan we spontaneously decided to take a train to San Reno, and continue from there to Monaco, Nice and up through the mountains to Chamonix, ultimately heading back to Geneva for our return flight to Sweden. There are plenty of excellent reports on cycling along these roads [...] and we feel we have little to contribute. Instead these pages are focused on the possibilities of single track riding. |
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| 100Km al giorno in Corsica
tour started 1999 Europe: France
language: it
``Si e' pesanti sotto il sole 5 giorni con Bagni e Sole (Sempre) - 515Km''. The site has reports of several mountain bike tours, in Italy, Slovenia, Corse and Turkey, by him and others. In (a very idiomatic) Italian, and text-only, but very worth looking at. |
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| Off-road in the Alps
tour started 1995 language: en, dk
From Carsten's Cycling Web, the Web site of Carsten Gregersen. This trip is dedicated off-road cycling. We go by car to the Alps and stay at different campsites and arrange one-day rides without pack. In the peaceful Vanoise national park we are at the home ground of the marmot. The western Susa valley offers some very relentless climbs on old military roads and an unforgettable tour along the Asietta ridge. We end the trip in Grindelwald at the feet of Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau - three magnificent, Swiss giants. |
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| Switzerland/France - A recumbent trip through the Swiss and French Alps
language: en, nl
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| Denn die Wahrheit liegt da draußen...
language: de
Mit dem Mountainbike zweimal über die Alpen. From the MTB page of Florian Michahelles. The great story of a five-weeks trip from Mittenwald (Germany) over to Alps to Bozen/Bolzano and then to Liguria, Corse (France) and back through Lombardia and Switzerland. Individual sections are linked to under the various countries. |
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| Holiday on Ice
Europe: France
A ski trip to l'Alpe d'Huez became a winter mountain bike adventure for British cyclists David George and Kate Harvey. Nicely illustrated with photos and maps. |
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