Hi all.

The oppitunity to cycle across france has come up for me and would be happining in september 2007. Me and my step bro are going to cycle together and his dad has offord to drive as a support car and for him to have a tour around france also.

we desided to ride from our home in Haslingfield near Cambridge to the village of Salvan near Martigny in Switzlerand where my step bros aunt and her family live. Most days we will hope to cover 100 miles Ish. (I know this will be a challange when it is hilly).

So the plan is to ride our racing bikes across france (with smallish saddle bags) and to the alps. then we hope to spend a few days resting followed by cycling some alpine climbs before driving home shutup.gif .

I cycled LEJOG solo in may 2005 so I know what it will be like, and have cycled 100 mile days in cornwall with 2 full panniers. however I have never cycled mountins like the alps and i know that prepiration is EVRYTHING when it comes to long/hard touring.

So my questions are...

What is the wether like in the alps in september?
What is the smallest gear you would recomend?
and anything else you would recomend?

Any help would be most appresheated.

OS.

Ps. sorry about spelling

probably the best cycling weather you can ask for in the Alps: still warm but not hot, and more importantly, without the so frequent afternoon/evening rainshowers of summertime. However be aware that it can get quite chilly quite fast up there. Never ride without rain gear and warm clothes

that depends on your athletic ability and your fitness level; however, travelling so light, it shouldn't be a major problem


maybe you can find this chart useful in planning your route (it's a list of almost all relevant climbs in France)

I am not familiar with the alps in France but I live in the Swiss alps...

I agree with Franco: one of the best months to travel in the alps. This year however, it was not that nice all over. The beginning of October was better and now (close to the end of October) we still have nice travel weather. So it might be perfect, but not always Take the advice of Franco regarding clothing.


I am running 22 (front) to 30 (rear) on a 28" bike. This gives me around 1.6m per revolution. With that gear I am able to cross passes in the Swiss alps with 10% -12% (e.g. Oberalp, St. Gotthard, San Bernardino) with reasonable effort and a system weight of 100 kg (I am 63kg). Sometimes I however would wish to have one or two gears more, so 22 x 32 or 22 x 34 might be easier for me. I then however might loose one or two of the high gears. I like to travel down quite fast so I opt for 8 m or more per revolution in the highest gear.


Take your time. Do not hurry too much. If you are not that much used to the hight, you might feel it... 100 miles in the alps with luggage are IMHO quite far. Better calculate with 80 miles or less, so you will not be disappointed if you can't reach the 100 miles per day. With no luggage however, 100 miles might be quite reasonable.

Hallo OS,

as you surely have seen in the maps, on a tour form GB to Martigny cycling the Alps is only voluntary, rather a nice detour. Martigny can easily be reached from the Lac Léman (Lake of Geneve). In French hilly regions and middling mountains very steep roads are rare, exept at the southern slope of the Massif Central. In relation to England roads in similarly hilly French regions are less steep.

Yours sincerely

UL