Anyone just bunged their bike on Ryanair and done some of the classic routes in the Alps before? I reckon I could squeeze a 4 day cycling epic away from teh family later on in the year, and would be keen to hear from anyone who has done this sort of thing.
Cheer in advance!
P
'later on in the year' you might be wanting a snow shovel....
i did a weekend in the pyrennees, but went on the night train not the plane. Got two full days of cycling and only had to have two half days off work, fri aft and monday morning. Came back from a different location to what I went to. Was end of october and it was boiling, was in shorts and short sleeves all weekend including descending the tourmalet. Sure it's probably not like that now though, cols will start to be getting closed soon if not already.
Sort of, we were staying outside the Alps (so below) and headed in to the Alps for a day to ride the Marmotte route. Its fairly straight forward to get some good routes sorted out.
Do yourself a favour though, stay with these guys:
This area of France is perfect for cycling, Roger is an excellent host and you'll find miles of quiet roads.
But as above, wait until next year
ah yes, I meant something like September or October NEXT year! lol
Good advice chaps, keep it coming!
Can 2nd the Vercors as a great warm up venue prior to the alps, or on the way to the alps if touring. Also in places like the Vercors you get to ride a route without it being a huge Marmotte esque day rather than easier day rides in the alps which consist of up a col and down the col, unless you can do some car shuttling.
September and October generally can be great weather, i.e warm UK summer. However I have also skied down part of the road on the Galibier in June.
Happy to give any advice as I live 1 hour riding time to the foot of the Vercors and 10km from Grenoble Airport.
have met people who have done milan to Geneva, wasn't aware of any issues.