France/Spain/Italy...

RedEvo

1st post so don't flame me - I did search the forum to see if I could find an answer first...apologies if you've all seen or answered this sort of thing before.



Right - I've had enough of this british drought, it's been droughting so much my bike and I get completed dry when we go out, so i want to go somewhere else for a week and get some much needed miles in....ideally 4/5 hours a day for 6/7 days...

I'd go away the 2nd week of May and my options are;

- Stick my bike on my car and head to the south of France/Italy somewhere, hire a villa and use it as a base for day rides...
- Go on an organised ride thing, somewhere hot in spain/majorca..take my own or hire
- Go on an unorganised training camp thing, same as above


Now, i havent done any of these before and at the risk of asking a daft question, has anyone got any ideas or thoughts about what I/we should do???



Thanks
Chris

mrc1

Hi Chris

PM'd you

Cheers

CumbrianMan

Club La Santa in Lanzarote are good as a cycling base, and run regular rides most days. Or there's plenty of decent hotels around. Some great riding to be had, and the wind will make a man of you !

Never cycled Tenerife or Gran Canaria, but believe they are very good. Same goes for mainland Spain.

Could hire an apartment in say Bourg D'Oisans, France, then you have access to Alpe D'Huez, Col du Glandon, Col de la Croix de Fer, Col du Galibier, Col du Lauteret, Col de Sarenne, Les Deux Alpes, Col d'Ornon, Col de la Morte. Great ride up to La Berarde. We hired an apartment of the holiday-rentals.co.uk website, which was at the foot of the Alpe.

Bourg St Maurice is another option for Col de L'Iseran, Cormet de Roselend, Col du Petit St Bernard, Les Arcs 2000, La Plagne.

In Italy, there are some good bike hotels in Bormio (we stayed in the Hotel Funivia - great bike room, and fantastic food). Near here you have the Passo Gavia, Masso del Mortirolo, the great Passo Stelvio (though the best side is the north side), Passo Umbrail, Passo Foscagno, Passo D'Eira, Passo Livigno, Offenpass.

Naturally, as it is May you are going, there is always the potential of some passes still being affected by snow. And hey, the Giro d'Italia will be on in Italy around this time, so possibility of combining your trip with this.

Have a good trip. :-)