Road cycling near Geneva / Morzine

bigcod

Me and a few mates are looking to do a few days road cycling near the Geneva / Morzine and then plan to watch stage 8 of the 2010 Tour de France. None of of us have ever been to this part of the world or watched a Tour stage

Just wondered if anyone has any advice on this type of trip ?
where / what to stay in. Ideally we looking for a cyclist friend hostle/bnb type setup.

Anyone stayed in that area ? Any tips ?

Thanks
Andy

EwanR

Well, I live there which means I have very little clue about accommodation but your best bet is to look at the Gites d'etape

http://www.gites-de-france.com/gites/fr ... ape_sejour

I see that the stage starts in the Jura and then heads down the Valserine to Bellegarde then via Annemasse and finishes in Avoriaz. As nice as the alps are the cycling in the Jura and down towards Annecy is also superb and also somewhat quieter so I'd suggest staying at that end.

If you base yourselves in or near Gex you can cycle over the Col de Faucille and into the Valserine to see the tour and then follow the route down to Bellegarde once the road is open again. A more punishing schedule would be to see them go past then hop back over the Faucille and traverse Geneva to catch the peleton again near Annemasse which should be possible due to the difference in distance.

There's more than enough cycling around there to keep you busy - let me know if you want some route ideas.

Kingtut87

Im going to be staying in a chalet in Morzine with a group of cyclists, mostly mountain bikers but theres myself and 3 other roadies. We'll be looking at doing up to 70 or 80 miles a day, maybe less, but need to return to the chalet each night. Was thinking of taking a trip down to lake Geneva and up the Col de Joux Plane, any other suggestions?

flanners1

I have a place in Morzine and will be there fior the weekend the Tour hits town cannot wait!

As for rides there are loads to do in the area, best to get a local map and plot a few some great rides into Switzerland and down to Lake Geneva etc. Some tough ole climbs!

bigcod

Cheers for the info all.

We've just booked the following which seems cheap and cheerfull.
http://www.summermorzine.com/accommodat ... ntegue.php
managaed to get if for £40 HB per night during the Tour weekend which i think is a good deal.

Now we just need to go a plan some rides.

Many Thanks
Andy

TheStone

Been to Morzine quite a few time, here's some route ideas:

1) Joux Plane Loop - over Les Gets and down to the valley, then along and over the Joux
Plane (similar difficulty to Alpe Duez)
http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/Mo ... Plane-Loop

2) Ramaz Loop - either direction is good (reverse will take you over Ramaz as the tour
will go)
http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/Mo ... Ramaz-Loop

3) Colombiere Loop - takes you over to Flumet which is great, one section back into
Cluses is not great for cycling (although being wet and tired didn't help)
http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/Mo ... eveve-Long

4) Brutal - From this year's Morzine sportive, but it's all good and many options to
shorten
http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/Mo ... Aulps-2009

StephF

Does anyone know of somewhere to hire road bikes in Morzine? I can only see places that hire MTB. We are also coming to Morzine for the Tour De France this year and plan to do both mountain biking and road biking but would prefer to hire than bring our own on the plane.

Thanks

Steph

Kléber

All good advice so far, I've really enjoyed the area between Annecy and Morzine.

Road bike hire in France is pretty reduced, you can try near Alpe d'Huez but there's less chance of finding rental in this area partly because it's so quiet.

knedlicky

StephF wrote:

Does anyone know of somewhere to hire road bikes in Morzine? I can only see places that hire MTB. We are also coming to Morzine for the Tour De France this year and plan to do both mountain biking and road biking but would prefer to hire than bring our own on the plane.

Thanks
Steph

If you’re flying to Geneva, for a road bike, try the bike shop Girard there, 3 rue Hoffmann, off Route de Meyrin. Email: dgirard@infomaniak.ch.

Their basic rates are about 50 swiss francs a day (£30), so not cheap, but when hiring a bike in the Alps, it's common that a week only costs 5 days. Maybe Girard operate the same.
I've also found you're not charged for the day you pick it up, if you pick it up mid afternoon (3 pm) or later, or for the day you hand it back, if you hand it back early morning (by 10 am). Just you might have to ask for/negotiate the latter in advance, not assume it's automatic.

You could ride to Morzine on the road bike, and then in Morzine give it a rest for one or two days and hire a mtb locally.

jorhys

StephF

You can hire road bikes - quite decent Scotts, as I recall - from the cycle shop in Samoens (the other side of the Col de Joux Plane from Morzine). Sorry, i can't remember the name of the shop but Samoens is quite a small place. Google it maybe?

avoidingmyphd

Kléber wrote:

All good advice so far, I've really enjoyed the area between Annecy and Morzine.

Road bike hire in France is pretty reduced, you can try near Alpe d'Huez but there's less chance of finding rental in this area partly because it's so quiet.

It's getting better. Lots of the shops in the Alps that do summetime MTB hire now have a small fleet of (well maintained and barely used) road bikes at the back of the shed. Mystifyingly, however, they don't advertise it properly.

I'd call around VTT hire places in Morzine and see what they say. If they say no, jorhys' tip about Samoens is a good 2nd best.

avoidingmyphd

Kléber wrote:

All good advice so far, I've really enjoyed the area between Annecy and Morzine.

Road bike hire in France is pretty reduced, you can try near Alpe d'Huez but there's less chance of finding rental in this area partly because it's so quiet.

It's getting better. Lots of the shops in the Alps that do summertime MTB hire now have a small fleet of (well maintained and barely used) road bikes at the back of the shed. Mystifyingly, however, they don't advertise it properly.

I'd call around VTT hire places in Morzine and see what they say. If they say no, jorhys' tip about Samoens is a good 2nd best.

TheStone

There's at least a couple of shops in Morzine that hire road bikes, but I don't know their
names. Not spectacular, but fairly decent quality.

SDF64

You'll have probably already found this website. It's got a lot of detail about the area your interested in so might have what you're looking for.

http://www.morznet.com/activities/morzi ... biking.htm


On a related note, i've just added a new post relating to roadside camping in Morzine during the tour. If anyone has any handy tips i'd be grateful.

Toonraid

EwanR wrote:

Well, I live there which means I have very little clue about accommodation but your best bet is to look at the Gites d'etape

..... As nice as the alps are the cycling in the Jura and down towards Annecy is also superb and also somewhat quieter so I'd suggest staying at that end.

There's more than enough cycling around there to keep you busy - let me know if you want some route ideas.

I am planning a CC tour based around Lake Genneva at the end of June together with some friends - its going to be more of a fun scenic, sportive ride than a Tdf so trying to avoid mountains and stick to hills and gentle climbs. We will be starting from Gstaad and cycling down to the lake on Montreaux side cutting into france along the lake with an overnight stay at Yvoire. Next day will be spent cycling to Annecy via Geneva and this is the bit i am not sure about - is there a gentle way to get to Annecy avoiding big climbs from Geneva?

bcyclo

Being based in Geneva, we can probably help you. You can read about us on BikeRadar at http://www.bikeradar.com/news/article/r ... mundo-8109

sampras38

Kingtut87 wrote:

Im going to be staying in a chalet in Morzine with a group of cyclists, mostly mountain bikers but theres myself and 3 other roadies. We'll be looking at doing up to 70 or 80 miles a day, maybe less, but need to return to the chalet each night. Was thinking of taking a trip down to lake Geneva and up the Col de Joux Plane, any other suggestions?

I was in that neck of the woods last year for the Tour and stayed in a huge campsite in Samoens, which is about a 2 minute ride from the foot of the Joux Plane. There's quite a lot of nice riding round there, both flat and very hilly. We did the JP a couple of times in 1 week and one particular ride starting at the foot of the JP, we then got to the top and went down into Morzine, then up the 2nd climb to Avoriaz, then over to the Cole Du Colombiere which was about 30 odd km away. We climbed to the top and later in the day the Tour came through. It was incredible.

endlessride

These guys have some (new this year) road bikes for hire in Morzine

http://www.flowmtb.com/extra/bikes/

If you want some route advice feel free to drop in on us

http://www.endlessride.com/

We are right in the centre of town.

We also have some road route cards we can lend and tools if required!

velovation

We will be organising supported day tours to see the Tour finishes/starts while they are in the area. We are based out of Morzine and have a great knowledge of the area. We had a great time through the Jura Mountains last year to see the finish at Bellgarde sur Valcorine.
We also do other day trips around the area and because the tours are supported you can get further safe in the knowledge of a van ride home, it's the best way to explore and get the most amount of cols under your belt in a short space of time!
Have a look at the website: http://www.velovation.co.uk for more info or to contact us if you are interested

durhamwasp

Geneva isn't that far from le Grand Bornand and the Col de la Colombiere, Col des Aravis and Col de la Croix Fry amongst others.