Did the route a few years ago but not on the official day, just followed my mate who downloaded a GPS track. I don’t recall any particularly gnarly sections but I know there are optional downhill sections, which I guess we missed.

How difficult are the optional downhill sections? I’ve done a few of the reds around Morzine and Les Gets before. Also did the Grande Conche if anyone knows that one?

Second question is regarding food/drinks on the day – how often are they and what kind of things are available? Don’t want to carry 3L of water if there are regular stops.

Ta

Not hard.

Every town has ‘something’ so quite frequent.

Could I ask, how much climbing on the bike is involved?

Hmmm its a generic XC ride really, plenty of riding, plenty of saddle time, but the tough stuff is lift assisted. Its a long day, lots of riding but from the context of ‘how much’ the answer is, less than Skyline or 2 llandeglas etc