Im leaving the mtb bike behind I think, forks are going to TFT for a warranty replacment so im left with the roadie.

I have a few routes planned but does anyone have any input? what routes did you do and how were the roads?

Ive never driven let alone rode on french / swiss roads – How hard can it be!?

sell the roadie and buy some new forks. One of the best mtb riding destinations on earth.

It’s a great place to be road cycling

http://www.chamonet.com/activities/cycling/routes.html

I went to Chamonix about 5 years ago with the road bike, Had a great time bombing about,

There was a bike shop called Zero G that gave me some great info on routes,

In the centre of town there was a wooden bridge where a local club used to meet, Rode with them one day but nearly died.

So what are the roads like, traffic wise?

Even at the best of times, it’s not easy but traffic at the moment, it’s extremely busy. It’s awful. There’s not a lot of respect for cyclists. Going over the Col des Montets down to Vallorcine is frightening. I’d hire I mtb if I were you.

I can’t imagine the Chamonix valley itself would be a nice place on a bike just because of the traffic volumes.

I’ve ridden a road bike in other parts of the French Alps and generally road users are much more aware of cyclist than in the UK.

Road biking is good in and around the CHX valley if you do it right. May and September are brilliant; not much traffic, snow on the peaks, not too hot (although it’s downright bitter on some big descents, arm & leg warmers a must!).

I’ve never had a dodgy moment around here on the road bike until last week when I had a near-death experience with a white van man (blanc camion homme in these parts perhaps). Generally you’ll get locals (74 plates) swinging out wide to pass you, tourists & Swiss clipping your bars with their mirrors.

Couple of good rides that I’ve done in the last week or two from CHX:
-Col de la Forclaz (managed that in my lunchbreak)
-Barrage d’Emosson
-Combloux Loop
-Plaine-Joux

For the last two, and any other rides W of Chamonix (ie towards Servoz, not Argentière), most people drive/train to Servoz and go from there. The Vaudagne road, which is the only way out of the valley without going on the dual carriageway, is a horror story and possibly more suited to a MTB! So play the lazy card and go from Servoz.

The Colombières & Aravis cols aren’t far either.

I suppose I ought to plug the new book here, which has got all these road bike rides in, plus the MTB stuff: http://www.thechamonixbikebook.com

I’m going saturday, road bike all packed. A little apprehensive now from what others have said.
I will be going in to ZeroG Sunday if open to grab a copy of that book. I’m a skin head (Baldy not thug)if your in there and say hi.

I just received a copy of the latest Bike Book via Zero-G, there is indeed a small section at the back with 7 road routes. It’s worth buying as, 1 the book is cheap & written by bikers and 2 you can read about all the MTB routes so you can plan your next trip !

There’s no great network of roads in the Chx valley – there is the odd little detour but there’s basically one road up and down the valley and that’s your lot. I’d also avoid going up to Col des Montets during peak season anyway unless you have a deathwish.

Contrary to what someone has written above, in summer I used to go up to Vaudagne via Les Houches (ie not on the motorway!) and down to Servoz climbing wall, than back. The surface is uneven in places but it’s perfectly rideable and fairly pleasant.

Joux Plaine from Sixt then back around via Morzine and Les Gets is a good pull. Or drive to Annecy and do the loop around the lake, which was the ITT in the Tour in 2009 (I think). On the eastern side take the pull up to Montmin to a) get away from the traffic b) make it much more interesting.

Be careful, all those drivers are looking at Mt Blanc, not you. And stay away from the white line, lots of people cut the corners blind. They’ll even do it as they pass you wide, therefore hitting someone coming the other way. No-one ever waits to pass, they put the pedal down and trust to le dieu.

Just to add to @mattjg’s post a mate of mine who just rode the etape was raving about the climb up from Annecy to Col du Semnoz which is almost all on quiet roads with no traffic.