I'm off to Annecy next week....

mpatts

I have 3 days bike hire booked, any great ideas for routes?

I'm also in Monaco afterwards....hoping to sneak in Madone.

rickwiggans

Have a look at these. All good

http://www.cycling-challenge.com/top-5- ... ke-annecy/

g00se

Off there in a few weeks - some guys did it last year and here are some routes:

http://veloviewer.com/segment/616073
http://veloviewer.com/segment/628910
http://veloviewer.com/segment/670158
http://veloviewer.com/segment/1677995
and a bit more steep:
http://veloviewer.com/segment/1071032

ugo.santalucia

You need to do the Cret de Chatillon, where Quintana won a stage last year and you need to do the classic loop of the lake with the climb to the Forclaz

thegreatdivide

rickwiggans wrote:

Have a look at these. All good

http://www.cycling-challenge.com/top-5- ... ke-annecy/

Good rides.

The L’Epine is indeed a lovely climb. Not super long but taxing and the other side is a lovely place. Easy enough to take in the Croix Fry too, plus a half descent down the Aravis then loop back to Annecy.

It’s a bit of a trek to get to those climbs g00se. Can be done by car then ridden, but to actually ride to them is a bit of an all dayer.

g00se

thegreatdivide wrote:

It’s a bit of a trek to get to those climbs g00se. Can be done by car then ridden, but to actually ride to them is a bit of an all dayer.

Yes - you're right - we will be based in Beaufort, heading to Annecy (the second one will be a long decent from the first) - they will be all-dayers though

dodgy

Semnoz :twisted:

Annecy is the most beautiful place for many miles. Stunning. Hope the weather holds, it looks amazing in the sunshine.

ugo.santalucia

dodgy wrote:

Semnoz :twisted:
.

Indeed, that's also called the Cred De Chatillon as I was referring earlier

freefall_junkie

The riding all around Annecy is simply epic. Col D'Aravis is a must, best done from the Thones side talking in Col Croix Fry. Great views of Mont Blanc from the top. The decent down the south side is brilliant, in particular the stretch from Flumet to Ugine - possibly the most exhilarating and fun decent I have ever done on a road bike.

Semnoz is also a great climb, best from the Leschaux side - it was of course the last Tour stage before Paris in 2013, won by Quintana.

Enjoy! Going to Annecy area myself again in July.

Mark

LegendLust

Croix Fry then onwards to the Columbiere!

I've been to that area three times now and never tire of it. It's stunning

thegreatdivide

freefall_junkie wrote:

The riding all around Annecy is simply epic. Col D'Aravis is a must, best done from the Thones side talking in Col Croix Fry. Great views of Mont Blanc from the top. The decent down the south side is brilliant, in particular the stretch from Flumet to Ugine - possibly the most exhilarating and fun decent I have ever done on a road bike.

Semnoz is also a great climb, best from the Leschaux side - it was of course the last Tour stage before Paris in 2013, won by Quintana.

Enjoy! Going to Annecy area myself again in July.

Mark

That’s a good point. You could take the lake side cycle route out of Annecy, climb the L’Epine, then the Croix Fry (two climbs from last year's Tour), do a half ascent of the Aravis (the tough part ;-)) then the mega descent down the south side (I’ve got some cracking GoPro footage – as you say Mark it's amazing fun!) and then loop back onto the cycle route for a flat(ish) ride home. Damn – I’d like to do that right now!!!

term1te

I'll be there in mid June, cycling down to Monaco Beautiful part of the world, I've ridden around there a couple of times before, some photo's linked in my signature to wet the appetite.

bernithebiker

When we moved to France we had a shortlist; Biarritz, Annecy, Quimper.

The latter just pipped it, but it was a close run thing!

Home to Mavic.

durhamwasp

Aravis and Colombiere are both well worth the effort!

cc78

The road between Flumet and Ugine is currently closed I'm afraid, following a landslide over one of the tunnels during the winter. This is apparently the most expensive road in France to maintain per km! There is a diversion in place that takes you off the main road about 3km after Flumet, up a short sharp climb to the tiny village of Hery before a long descent to Ugine. This is a cracking road and shouldn't put you off riding that way.

Also, Colombiere and Roselend are not open yet following standard winter closure. The Col du Pré is open although I'm not sure what state the road will be in at the top. The Time Megève sportive is going over there at the start of June. If in Beaufort the OP should really have a go at the Bisanne route to Saisies... http://www.strava.com/segments/683755

Hope the weather improves for you, it has been rubbish this week.

cc78

PS on a half decent day the view from the top of Forclaz over the lake is absolutely wonderful. Not to be missed.

By all means ask if you need any more info or help with routes.

thegreatdivide

cc78 wrote:

PS on a half decent day the view from the top of Forclaz over the lake is absolutely wonderful. Not to be missed.

By all means ask if you need any more info or help with routes.

cc78 - Mr Cole by any chance?

cc78

thegreatdivide wrote:

cc78 wrote:

PS on a half decent day the view from the top of Forclaz over the lake is absolutely wonderful. Not to be missed.

By all means ask if you need any more info or help with routes.

cc78 - Mr Cole by any chance?

C'est moi...

mpatts

cc78 wrote:

PS on a half decent day the view from the top of Forclaz over the lake is absolutely wonderful. Not to be missed.

By all means ask if you need any more info or help with routes.

That would be great, thanks

And thanks all for the other route ideas.

cc78

mpatts wrote:

cc78 wrote:

PS on a half decent day the view from the top of Forclaz over the lake is absolutely wonderful. Not to be missed.

By all means ask if you need any more info or help with routes.

That would be great, thanks

And thanks all for the other route ideas.

Sure, I'll blast up a couple of routes on Strava for you. How far do you want to ride each day and how much climbing?

mpatts

cc78 wrote:

mpatts wrote:

cc78 wrote:

PS on a half decent day the view from the top of Forclaz over the lake is absolutely wonderful. Not to be missed.

By all means ask if you need any more info or help with routes.

That would be great, thanks

And thanks all for the other route ideas.

Sure, I'll blast up a couple of routes on Strava for you. How far do you want to ride each day and how much climbing?

a couple of shorts (sub 3 hours) then one half day, I think. I love a bit of climbing

chill888

A really good "Long cut" from Annecy to Col des Aravis via Col de la Forclaz ..... is to first climb the little known Col de Plan Bois. Very steep, and quiet. After the descent from Plan Bois the route will then join up with the road to Col de Croix Fry at Manigod (thereby still climbing the good, top part 2/3 of Croix Fry).

Map in link below.

(after Croix Fry one can of course go to Col des Aravis. Also, if you are a col hunter, at the summit of Croix de Fry is a little side road to Col de Medassier. It is just a few kms, and only a few metres up. But again, if you "collects" Cols it is worth the detour.

http://www.cycling-challenge.com/col-de ... an-bois-4/

thegreatdivide

cc78 wrote:

thegreatdivide wrote:

cc78 wrote:

PS on a half decent day the view from the top of Forclaz over the lake is absolutely wonderful. Not to be missed.

By all means ask if you need any more info or help with routes.

cc78 - Mr Cole by any chance?

C'est moi...

Hi there! It’s David from the Dundee crew that you so graciously catered for last July. We had a superb time! Hope you're all well :-)

cc78

Col du Pré plus Col des Saisies (via Hauteluce), from Beaufort (62km, 2200m ascent):
http://www.strava.com/routes/306177

Bisanne plus Col des Saisies north side (via Crest-Voland), from Beaufort (72km, 2300m ascent):
http://www.strava.com/routes/306190

You could make both of these shorter by returning straight to Beaufort instead of doing the second climb.

Forclaz de Queige, Epine, Croix-Fry, Aravis and Saisies north side, from Beaufort (116km, 3300m ascent):
http://www.strava.com/routes/306200

Leschaux, Semnoz, Annecy and Forclaz de Montmin, from Faverges (90km, 2500m ascent):
http://www.strava.com/routes/306218
this obviously involves driving to Faverges, which should take you about 45 minutes from Beaufort. You could extend the route by parking in Ugine and riding the length of the piste cyclable (there are plenty of places to park the car all along the cycle path). Or you could turn left after the Col des Leschaux and loop round the back of Semnoz, taking the steeper route up via Quintal that the Tour used last summer.

Hope this helps! Have a good trip.

cc78

thegreatdivide wrote:

cc78 wrote:

thegreatdivide wrote:

cc78 wrote:

PS on a half decent day the view from the top of Forclaz over the lake is absolutely wonderful. Not to be missed.

By all means ask if you need any more info or help with routes.

cc78 - Mr Cole by any chance?

C'est moi...

Hi there! It’s David from the Dundee crew that you so graciously catered for last July. We had a superb time! Hope you're all well :-)

Ah! Nice to hear from you... all good here ta, relieved to see the back of another winter so I can get back out on the bike again! Best regards to all the gang. C

cc78

chill888 wrote:

A really good "Long cut" from Annecy to Col des Aravis via Col de la Forclaz ..... is to first climb the little known Col de Plan Bois. Very steep, and quiet. After the descent from Plan Bois the route will then join up with the road to Col de Croix Fry at Manigod (thereby still climbing the good, top part 2/3 of Croix Fry).

Map in link below.

(after Croix Fry one can of course go to Col des Aravis. Also, if you are a col hunter, at the summit of Croix de Fry is a little side road to Col de Medassier. It is just a few kms, and only a few metres up. But again, if you "collects" Cols it is worth the detour.

http://www.cycling-challenge.com/col-de ... an-bois-4/

this is on my list for this season, looks great

southdownswolf

I keep looking at apartments in Annecy, would love to have a place to stay for a few weeks a year. Unfortunately funds are just a little short at the moment....

I even think that I could persuade the Mrs if we could afford it.

stueys

Try the etape route from 2013, nice circular route, finishes with a climb up Semnoz. And it's easy to download the route from mapmyride....

briantrumpet

'Brrr' is my memory of Annecy. Last year's Paris to Rome cycle, and the third day (28 May) was Beaune to Annecy (130 miles) over the Jura mountains. All six of us were close to hypothermic by the time we arrived in Annecy as it was so cold and so wet for the second half of the day. I probably ought to go back when the weather's nice to expunge the memory.

southdownswolf

7 or 8 years ago I was travelling down to La Plagne with the family for a holiday and I took a detour to Annecy just to show my wife how beautiful a town it is. We arrived at about 7am as the cafe's were setting out the tables, the smell of Croissants and Pain au chocolat in the air, it couldn't have been more perfect. A couple of espresso's and our choice of breakfast later, we had a walk through the old town. Just a shame the kids were with us :-)

davidof

briantrumpet wrote:

'Brrr' is my memory of Annecy. All six of us were close to hypothermic by the time we arrived in Annecy as it was so cold and so wet for the second half of the day. I probably ought to go back when the weather's nice to expunge the memory.

Sounds like now, snow down to 1600m today and freezing cold rain. Despite wearing my winter clothing I was frozen when I got back from a ride this afternoon. Hope the poster has taken full winter gear.

On the other hand the skiing is good at the moment.