Autumn in the French Alps - between the road bike and ski seasons

As I mentioned in my previous post, our final guests for 2012 road bike season left last weekend and it is amazing how quickly the Autumn has taken a hold since then. Some of our guests may recognise the road between La Tania and Meribel in the picture below, the photo was taken by Anne in the middle of the week. Over the last couple of days we have seen an even bigger change in the landscape and Autumn colours.

This is now our interseason and we will be trying to get the Cycle Hame 2013 Summer season programme completed and onto the website. Some of the planned trips are already on the site and we do have a few weeks booked already. It does look as though the Marmotte week and the Tour de France week are going to be popular, and will book up quickly, so if either of these are of interest let us know soon.

On top of getting the Summer programme completed we are also preparing for the 2012-2013 Ski Hame season and as the Winter approaches it really does keep us busy.This year we expect our preparation to be a little easier to get organised than the last couple of years. Aiden will be 3 in a couple of weeks and in France that means he has started school already. Anne and I were anxious about this to begin with, we have now accepted that it will be good for him socially, and in reality it is just like pre-school but takes place in the local school. Now I think it is the teachers I worry about more, he has recently adopted a new imaginary persona named Tom and thinks he is magic - he is not Tom and he is not magic. To make it even more difficult, he rabbits on all day long in English and the poor French teachers don't have a clue what he is talking about. Still, it helps us to get on with our work here and I am sure they will all work it out in the end.

2012 road bike season done

The last of our 2012 Summer cyclists left on the weekend.

In the end there were only 2 guests for the final trip of the season but we had a great week. There was rain on 2 mornings otherwise we enjoyed superb weather, the mornings were cool and daytime temperatures in the mid 20's.

Simon arrived on the Saturday and we were able to ride up to the Valmorel ski area then back up to Meribel. This is not a road we would normally use but Simon stayed with us in 2011 and it was nice to show him a route he hasn't been on before. In the afternoon I picked up Andrew from Geneva airport.

We got to ride a number of our classic climbs including Col de la Madeleine, Cormet de Roselend and Col du Petit St Bernard.

Ben and Simon climbing the Madeline with Mont Blanc in the background.

'Due caffee machiatto per favore'. Coffee stop in Italy at the top of the Petit St Bernard. The cans of coke are a different shape, why is that? 

The highlight of the week for Simon and Andrew was the ride from the Maurienne Valley  over the Col de Telegraph, Col du Galibier before the final climb up Alpe d'Huez. Despite it being less than 100km in distance this is a big day on a bike with over 3000m height gain across the 3 climbs. Both Andrew and Simon were able to ride well for the whole day and finished strong on Alpe d'Huez. I also had local rider Ben helping us for the day and he had a ride managing the climb up the Alpe in under 56mins. On Alpe d'Huez you can choose between the Tourist arrival or continue on the established Tour de France finish, Ben's time was to the TdF finish, not bad after having climbed the Galibier already
.

Is that Bradley Wiggins at the top of the Galibier?

Top of Alpe d'Huez - chapeau.

So that is the 2012 season over for Cycle Hame. We are working on our 2013 trips, we have posted details for the Tour de France Alps week and the Marmotte sportive week and have already taken bookings for both of these trips. Keep an eye on our 2013 Calendar as we will be adding more dates over the next few weeks.  

New Zealand road bike team for Worlds

The 2012 mens road race World Championships will take place in Holland later this month and this evening I was looking at the line-up for the team to represent New Zealand .

I noted that, George Bennett, a reserve rider for the team is from Nelson and Jack Bauer, a rider in the actual team, is from just up the road in Takaka. This was of particular interest to me, not because I thought a special agent for the Counter Terrorist Unit was riding for New Zealand but because Nelson is where my mother lives these days. And so does my sister, brother-in-law and 2 nieces. I love the place.

It is not the town we lived when I was growing up, it was years after I left home before they all made the move down to Nelson. So I cannot tell you what it is like to ride a road bike in that part of the world. Pity really, I imagine it must be fantastic. The roads are quiet, wide, good surfaces and a good variety of flats and climbs. Looking at the selections for the national road bike team it would appear to be a good place to learn the trade.

It is our aim to get back there within the next couple of years, to visit the family and friends and to explore that part of the country on the bike, possibly looking to organise a road bike holiday for our Cycle Hame clients in the future. How much fun would that be?

ALI RAINBACK CHALLENGE V4

I really do enjoy the road biking here in the French Alps at this time of the year, is it the tail end of the Summer or the early Autumn?
Yesterday we had one of those perfect days waking up to clear blue skies, very fortunate as it was the day of the 4th edition of the  Ali Rainback challenge. As the title suggests the ride is organised in memory of Ali Rainback who ,sadly, passed away in 2008 as the result of a brain tumour. Many of us had met Ali as one of the founding directors of Ski New Generation ski school. The proceeds from this years entries went to the  Huck Cancer Foundation with just over 1000euros collected.

As I have already said, and as you can see in the photo below, the weather was ideal for the more than 60 riders who arrived in Annecy for the 9.30ish start.

The day started as it was intended to go on, everyone was relaxed, while the main organisers of the event Matt and Jeanette collected entries and handed out numbers. There was the full spectrum of riders, from those sporting complete matching lycra to baggy shorts and trainers, from sub 7 kg road bikes to the dusted off mountain bike that was sitting in the back of the shed. Most of the group are people based around here, a mixture of Brits, Irish, Aussies, Kiwis, there were possibly even French riders there, I am not sure. Some of us had met Ali, it was not important, everybody had a smile on their face, for some it appeared to be a nervous smile, but a smile nonetheless.

LE GRAND DEPART 

Matt gave us a quick rundown of the day then we were on our way, riding along the cycle path that follows the side of  Lake Annecy. The cycle paths in this country are fantastic and the Annecy path is no exception, however by mid morning on a Sunday in late Summer(or early Autumn) it does start to get quite a few people on it and if you are in a peloton of around 60 riders you do have to stay alert. As we got further away from Annecy it thinned out and we could start to relax bit more. 

COL DE TAMIE

The ride offered 2 options to the riders, either climbing the Col de Tamie from Faverges, or not. I opted to do the climb, the Tamie is a popular local climb and one that I enjoy. The climb from Faverge is 10km and with a gradient of just under 4% it is the easiest of the roads up to the col. Nick and Ben went flying off the front from near the bottom of the climb, and the rest of us, ... well ..... we didn't. So after this effort, some of us rightly decided we deserved a coffee stop at the top. Rob, who helps us out with our road bike guiding here at Cycle Hame  in the Summer,  rightly decided he deserved a red wine stop at the top - it was after 11am after all. For future reference anyone else thinking a coffee stop at the top of the Tamie is a good idea, don't bother. Honestly, the coffee was okay but it was expensive, you would have thought you were in a Courchevel mountain restaurant and the staff so rude it bordered on comical. Still the sun was shining.

After the col it was a quick descent down to Albertville and on to the first feed stop. The  cakes, cookies and flapjacks were spot on for the occasion. 

By now the peloton had fragmented for the ride to Moutiers, I set off with Sam, a guide for Alps Cycles in the Summer and ski instructor for Ski New Generation in the Winter. This part of the ride is okay, largely flat with a few short climbs along the way, notably the foot of the Col de la Madeleine. This pinch only lasts a few minutes which encourages you to push a bit harder, as you get to the top you are forced to do that thing where you try to make it look as though you are breathing normally when in reality you are blowing out your arse but you have to make it look easy because there are always people standing around at the top.

THE FINAL ASCENT

There was another feed stop in the Super U carpark at the foot of the days final climb and another excuse for further procrastination, apart from Charlie and Rob of course desperate to get to Brides les Bains and a quick Cognac. Oh yes, Nick and Ben, did anyone see those 2 after the Tamie? 

The final ride is from Super U up to Courchevel Le Praz, this is the new name of the village we always new as Courchevel Le Praz. This part of the road is 13km and serious enough climbing up to 1300m altitude. Riders made their way up at their own pace and nearly all made it to the Drop Inn at the top. For myself it was a pleasant ride up with John Thomas from Alpine Cadence. All the riders we saw along the way seemed to be in good spirits, we certainly couldn't have asked for better conditions for the climb.

Finally we all descended on, NO finally we all ascended on the Drop Inn in Le Praz for the BBQ. It was a great afternoon after a great 100km ride in the late Summer sun, I have decided it was too warm to be called the early Autumn sun. The post ride BBQ really was very good and I will be looking forward to more of the same in 2013. 

Finally, thanks to Matt and Jeanette, the bakers, the support drivers, the staff at the Drop Inn, and anyone else who helped to organise a great day out.