sansman

Anyone ever done one of these and have suggestions? I would like to hit some of the Tour de France or Giro d' Italia climbs if possible, Alpe de Huez etc.

sansman

suggestions of tour companies to be more clear

historytraveler

Trek does, but expensive.

grosenb

Try www.backroads.com. They have quite a variety of bike trips.

Gail

Steve_James

Hi Sansman - There are cyclists who practice in the Dolomites most days on the Giro d'Italia route.

Would you need to join a group?

Steve

Celticharper

We have followed the Tour de France for the past 6 years so we are very familiar with the French Alps and these routes.

You can do it on your own for a fraction of the price of a tour. We spent about the same amount of money for 3 weeks in France as we would have for an 8 day tour with a cycling group.

You can fly into Lyon, rent a car and drive about 2 hours to the village of Bourg d'Oisans which is at the base of Alpe d'huez. This is a perfect base for many of the most famous climbs in the French Alps of Letour.

There is a fun hotel there the Hotel Milan, it caters to a lot of cyclist, so they are used to guests arriving for breakfast in their cycling clothes & shoes. There is also a great bike shop in BdO that can work magic, and solve any problem you might have with your bike in what seems like minutes.

You could ride the Col du Galibier, Teleferique, Lauteret, Glandon, Ciox de Fer (sp).

There is a wonderful book available that has 30 routes using Bourg d'Oisans as a home base. You could easily spend 2 weeks here and not ride the same route twice.

We met a lot of people who were traveling on their own.

bigtyke

ctc .org.uk is the english Cycle Touring Club which might have info on britain based tours

job816_2

I agree with Celtic if the aspect of being on a tour is not a priority. Although I don't cycle hard, my husband does and from the base of Alpe d'Huez he did a number of climbs. France has wonderful maps and you can usually get cycling routes - just google the regions you are intersted in visiting. Another area to consider is the Vercors, which is a beautiful range with cut out mountain roads and gorges. This area was also a big hide out for the resistance during WWII. I highly recommend this site for cycling, which provides blogs, routes and photos.

www.grenoblecycling.com.

And consider Cycling in France (purple book)by Tim Hughes. Its a few years old, but we found in helpful.

sansman

thanks, might try it on my own, though would prefer to try it with group, plus I thought with a guided tour if my legs give out on one of the mountain passes, at least I would have a ride, not sure it is worth the price though

AlohaOahu

to Celticharper:
What is the name of the book with the Tour climbs? Mahalo from Hawaii.