french sportives october

tpmlogan

Hi
I will be in central France in October. Anyone know of sportives on then . Any where I look they seem to stop in early September.
Would it be too late to try and tackle some of the big Cols then. I was thinking Alp D'Huez and Croix De Fer.
Terry

Peak Times

tpmlogan wrote:

Hi
I will be in central France in October. Anyone know of sportives on then . Any where I look they seem to stop in early September.
Would it be too late to try and tackle some of the big Cols then. I was thinking Alp D'Huez and Croix De Fer.
Terry

My official guide only lists 3 in October:

1st Sunday in October - LA VIKING 180k and 100k (dept 76)

2nd Saturday in October - La Vel'Automne - 150k and 100k (dept 86)

2nd Saturday in October - La Richard Virenque - (dept 83 - Toulon)

There are also sportives on the last Sunday in September that include a number of Cols

La Tarbaise - Pyrenees

La Rhonalpine - Rhone Alpes

tpmlogan

thanks . Thats someting to aim for . I will be back in UK end of October and hope to take in the Exmoor beast .

knedlicky

It would be good if you could more exactly say what/where you mean with ‘ central’. Since you are talking about climbs in the Alps, maybe you means around Grenoble way?

Of those Peak Times lists, none are in this part of France - La Viking is Normandy way, the Virenque more Provence, La Vel’Automne around Poitiers. Another cyclosportive about the end of the first week of October is the La Tinazzi but this is also Provence.

You could instead try one of the FFCT randonnees.These are more like UK sportives without the timing, than like normal continental sportives, i.e. they have no mass start and no race at the front – instead you can start whenever you like within 2-3 hour span (and time yourself). Unlike Audax, however, they do have feeding stations and route signage and marshals at dangerous junctions. There's no road closure.

Each event normally offers a choice of routes and distances, some of which are quite short because the organisers try and attract casual cyclists and families. Nonetheless, the longer routes are just as strenuous and serious as any sportive, if less ‘populated’ and perhaps only 80-120 km long. They are also dirt cheap to enter (6 or 7 Euro) and sometimes include some free food and wine/beer at the finish.

The 2009 calendar isn’t out yet, but the 2008 calendar had, for example, 4 road events listed in October for the department of Isere, which is around Grenoble.

The Croix de Fer is usually open until the end of October and I imagine Alpe d’Huez is open all year nowadays since it functions as ski resort in Winter.