France (local)

The bicycles skidded to a halt. There he stood with his unmistakably immense nose in the afternoon sun in the Place Myrpe of Bergerac, the arrogant guardsman, poet, lover and lately matine idol of the silver screen-- Cyrano de Bergerac! Later at the Café Cyrano over some dry white wine from this picturesque region of France, the truth emerged.

An extensive and informative report, very well organized.

These pages are a recollection of our 1997 summer holidays where we crossed France from East (our home) to West (the family holiday house), following the Loire valley for most of the trip. Actually, this was the second time we took this route. First time was in 92 on our tandem with Nicolas in his seat on the rear rack. This year, the company is the same, but Nicolas rode his bike for the 1000 km of the trip; not too bad for a nine year old:-) [...] Once the choice of going along the Loire had been made, choosing the route was quite easy. The only question was ``Where to reach it?'' Langres, Alésia, Vézelay were places we wanted to discover, or rediscover for some, and that settled it. I have reproduced our route sheets for each day. They were established every evening, while waiting for our dinner. Reading those ``feuilles de route'' with a map at hand may help readers to understand how to plan reasonable routes for traveling in this country.

Most years, Reading Cycling Club organises a week-long trip to see the Tour de France. We hire a minibus, drive down to an approriate part of France, where we camp for a week, go cycling, and see the Tour when it comes past. [...] The Vercors is a great area to cycle in. The terrain is varied, and the scenery is lovely. The climbs are not as steep or as difficult as those in the high Alps, but provide enough of a challenge. I'd definitely recommend it as a place for a holiday.

The Tour du Mont-Blanc is a circuit of 322km based in the northern French Alps, but visiting Italy and Switzerland as well. Run as a permanent route by the Cycle Touring Club of Chambery, it carries a maximum time limit of 4 days, as it crosses five fairly high passes. Sheila and I considered our options carefully. We decided to join the circuit at Beaufort, at the foot of the Cormet de Roselend, deposit some of our touring luggage at a hotel and ride round in two days.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

• 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 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.

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.

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.

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...

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.

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.

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.

Few words, many photos.

Nicely illustrated. Italian versions.

Nicely illustrated. Italian versions.

``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.

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.

A mountain biking guide for various regions of France with excellent practical information that is extremely helpful when organizing your trip.

L'Alpe d'Huez; Col de Sarenne; Les Deux Alpes; La Berarde; Cols de la Croix de Fer/Galibier; Mont Ventoux (July 4, 1999).

Useful commentaries and plenty of fine photographs for their trips:

• Alps & Auvergne
• Pyrenees & Atlantic
• Provence & Jura
• Seine Valley
• Flanders
• Picardy
• Cotentin
• Normandy
, Brittany

I woke each morning, excited as a child on Christmas morning,wondering what adventures would be unwrapped for us that day. Though we were never disappointed, there were days which stood out as particularly magnificent. The journey from Cucugnan to Lagrasse, though hard, took us along beautiful gorges and woods from where we would emerge to wonder at the amazing sights of former Cathar castles high on inaccessible hill-tops. The quiet and simple attractions of the Canal du Midi led us into the bustling pink brick city of Toulouse. The craggy and rugged mountains of the Pyrenees, full of cycling legends and fantastic views, tested our stamina over several days. Perched along a mountain side, the Cirque du Litor was a fairy-tale path between two mountain tops and a place to which I would gladly return.

I am an American bicyclist whose focus, since 1979, has been racing. [...] In the fall of 1996 I moved to France and in February, 1997 joined a French cyclotouring club. Except for some individual training and some rides at the velodrome, all my riding is with the club. [...] My pages provide information about French cycling organizations, the types of rides available through these organizations, and my cycling experiences as a member of a French club.

Includes direct experience on La Marmotte, Riding at Longchamp, VCL Tour du Vexin, La Randonnée de Gresivaudan, Le Reblochon, The Weekend at Auxi-le-Chateau, Levallois Criterium, Velodrome La Cipale. With an important note on Bicycles on Trains in France, 1998

``France is paradise for the cycletourist'' says Sheldon, who lived outside of Paris for a year (1988-89) and has plenty to tell. English/French bicycle dictionary, several tour reports, single and tandem rentals, biking in Paris, various articles.