Heading home by way of Macon and Laon
2018 Part 5: When we awoke this morning there was barely a trace of the storm we’d experienced yesterday. The first thing we did though was head down to the hotel basement to check on our kit. Last night the hotel kindly let us dry our textiles, gloves, and boots in their boiler room. For […]
We really should have cut and run at Barcelonnette
2018 Part 4: As a point of interest, if you want to ride mountain passes, big ones, then alongside Chamonix we can’t think of a much better base to have than Briancon. This is the reason why we’ve stayed here so often over the years. There are literally dozens of fantastic roads and passes to […]
On to Briancon over the Glandon and the Galibier
2018 Part 3: Like our ride from Besancon to Le Grand-Bornand a couple of days ago, our ride from Le Grand-Bornand to Briancon could be as short or as long as we wanted it to be. The fastest non-motorway route was 116 miles and 3 hours. Our preferred route was 6 hours and 155 miles. […]
Semnoz, Revard, Saisies and la Colombiere
2018 Part 2: We really weren’t too sure what conditions we’d wake up to this morning. While this summer has been hot and sunny, up in the mountains this has often culminated in some spectacular thunderstorms. Yesterday evening we’d experienced thunder and lightning during dinner and the weather remained unsettled when we retired for the […]
Le Grand-Bornand via Valenciennes and Besancon
2018 Part 1: As with every tour this one began at the customary starting point, Kyle’s house in the centre of Bewdley. It was the usual straightforward motorway run down to Dover; M40, M25 and M20/A20, enlivened only by the need to filter through the heavy traffic on the mobile car park that is the […]
Mutiny among the ranks
2010 Part 3: Over breakfast this morning we all agreed that to remain in Chamonix was effectively a waste of time. The rainfall experienced over the last few days was locked in around the Alps and nothing was going to change that any time soon. Realistically we couldn’t ride the passes we had planned on […]
The Alps look wet; lets go anyway
2010 Part 2: It didn’t matter how often or how many websites we checked the 7 day weather forecast for the Alps remained bleak. The eternal optimists among us refused to accept it would be as wet as predicted. The realists on the other hand thought riding south into poor weather was imprudent. Now the […]
The Gavia makes it 10 out of 10
2009 Part 8: With the exception of Mark who’d been on the road for 8-10 hours every day for the last 10 days, everyone was enthusiastic for a group ride today. As usual Phil had planned the ride and the route he’d chosen set him and Kyle up nicely to knock off the final pass […]
The legendary Passo dello Stelvio
2009 Part 7: Last night the Stelvio had been debated extensively and it went without saying that Phil, Kyle and Mark would ride it today. Yesterday Gaz, Taj, Cat, Pete and Bobby had ridden it going up the eastern ramp with its 48 almost zero radius hairpins, and down the gentler western side. However, from […]
Moving on to bigger things
2009 Part 6: Today was a transition day that saw us shifting bases from Arabba to the ski resort of Livigno near the Swiss border. The most direct toll free route between Arabba and Livigno is just shy of 150 miles and goes via Bolzano, Merano and the Stelvio Pass. Phil and Kyle had other […]
The Grossglockner High Alpine Road
2009 Part 3: As soon as we woke up this morning it looked like we’d struck gold with the weather. By all accounts the previous weeks weather in the Dolomites had been dreadful, bitter cold and lashing it down with rain. Today though it was blue skies and sunny, and the forecast was for more […]
A trio becomes an octet in Arabba
2009 Part 2: Today was the day we’d all arranged to meet up in Arabba and as Gaz, Pete and Mark readied themselves for the final leg of their 1,000+ mile journey to the Dolomites it was hard to believe they’d woken up in the same place they’d spent the day yesterday. Low cloud and […]