Day 2 Tour of Andalucia – The Pico de Veleta – Reconnaisance

Posted on January 12, 2012 by

Big ride out on day 2 combing our day 2 ride up to the Pico de Veleta with our day 3 ride to Guejar Sierra.

The morning was fresh as we started off a little later than planned for the local bike shop Sierre Nevada Bikes  to get myself a new chain for my PROMPT D211 road bike. It had been jumping through out the first day restricting me to just a few gears.

Once the chain was sorted we headed out up the steady climb to Guejar Sierra and then the mighty steep unnamed  climb up to the Pico de Veleta road. After a fantactic lunch we headed up to the ski resort of the Sierre Nevada on the Pico de Veleta road. We managed to get to 2550 metres above sea level before the road closed. There was a hive of activity up there with tacky shops renting sledges.

After a refuel in the Ski resort itself we headed back down the 35km to our base in Monachil just as the sun was setting over the mountain.

Posted in Andalucia, Cycling Holidays Andalucia, Cycling Holidays Spain, Guejar Sierra, Pico de Veleta, Pico Veleta | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Tour of Andalucia day 1 reconnaisance and training

Posted on January 6, 2012 by

Today’s ride was a 91 km ride from our base in Monachil to La Peza over the Puerto de Los Blancaros. This forms day 1 of our Tour of Andalucia holiday in March.

The temperature hit an amazing 21 degrees centigrade on the steady climb up to just under 1300 metres above sea level and as it was a public holiday here in Spain there were a far few cyclists out and about. It was an excellent days riding despite the lack of training I have done over the last couple of months.

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Posted in Andalucia, Cycling Holidays Spain, La Peza, Monachil, Puerto de Los Blancares, Vuelta a Espana | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Snow on Alpe d’Huez

Posted on December 20, 2011 by

Its been late coming this year but we have finally had a big dump of snow just in time for Christmas. I stopped to take this this photo at bend 4 while driving up Alpe d’Huez for a spot of skiing.

Posted in Alpe d'Huez, Bourg d'Oisans | Tagged | Leave a comment

Nice to Alpe d’Huez

Posted on November 21, 2011 by

Nice to Alpe d’Huez.

For 2013 we are organising a new tour from Nice on the south coast of France to our base in Bourg d’Oisans at the base of Alpe d’Huez. The 7 night point to point tour will run in August after our ever popular Route des Grandes Alpes Tour. Full details and price etc will be published at a later date but as a taster you will get to ride the giants of the Col du Galibier, Col d’Izoard , Col de Vars and of course Alpe d’Huez. If you are interested in this tour please contact us here.

Posted in Alpe d'Huez, Col d'Izoard, Col du Galibier, Col du Lautaret, More Than 21 Bends, Nice to Alpe d'Huez, Route des Grandes Alpes | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Col du Mollard

Posted on November 2, 2011 by

Its not often you get to bag a new col in November in the Alps but yesterday I completed for the first time the Col du Mollard just over the top of the Col de la Croix de Fer. Both of these climbs feature in stage 11 of the 2012 Tour de France and I took the opportunity to investigate the Col du Mollard in preperation for our Etape du Tour Week in June 2012.

 

 

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Alpe d’Huez to Italy – last 2 spaces left maybe more available….

Posted on October 17, 2011 by

We now only have 2 spaces left for our Alpe d’Huez to Italy tour (August 11th-18th August 2012). If you are a group of 3 or more please contact us as we will provide additional minibus and support if there is demand.

 

Posted in Alpe d'Huez, Alpe d'Huez to Italy, Col d'Agnel, Col du Galibier, Colle dell'Agnello, Cycling Holidays Italy | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Route des Grandes Alpes

Posted on October 10, 2011 by

We are really pleased to announce our first Route des Grandes Alpes tour will take place starting on the 28th July 2012. The 10 day point to point tour with over 650 km of riding and 16 cols starts in Geneva and finishes in Nice with a rest day in Briançon.

The itinerary is as follows:

  • Arrive – Geneva airport where we will pick you up. Please arrange to be at
    the airport at about 4PM. Overnight stay in Thonon-les-Bains where you can set
    up your bikes for the 10 day tour
  • Day 1 – 80km – Thonon-les-Bains to Grand Bornand via the Col de Gets (900m)
    and the Col de la Colombière (1613m).
  • Day 2 – 92km – Grand Bornand to Bourg-Saint-Maurice via the Col des Aravis
    (1486m) ,Col des Saisies (1432m), Cormet de Roseland (1968m)
  • Day 3 – 78km – Bourg-Saint-Maurice to Lanslebourg via the Col d’Iseran
  • Day 4 – 110km – Lanslebourg  to Briançon via the Col du Télégraphe (1566m),
    Col du Galibier (2646m)
  • Day 5 Briançon rest day. Explore Briançon or ride the Col de Montgenèvre
    self supported.
  • Day 6 – 104km – Briançon to Barcelonnette via the Col d’Izoard (2360m), Col
    de Vars (2019m)
  • Day 7 – 77km – Barcelonnette to Valberg via the Col de la Cayolle (2326m)
    and Valberg (1673m)
  • Day 8 – 57km – Valberg to Saint-Martin-Vésubie via the Col de la Couillole
    (1678m), Col St Martin (1500m)
  • Day 9 – 79km – Saint-Martin-Vésubie to Menton via the Col de Turini (1604m)
    and Col de Castillon (800m)
  • Depart – Menton. After breakfast we will drop you off at Nice airport or
    station for 12PM

You can view more details and book online by visiting the Route des Grandes Alpes Tour page. In addition if you are a group of 6 or more then we can run this tour over 7 days or 10 days  anytime through the summer and early autumn. Just contact us via our Custom Holidays page.

Posted in Briançon, Col d'Izoard, Col du Galibier, Col du Telegraphe, Cycle Geneva to Nice, Route des Grandes Alpes | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment