The Route des Grandes Alpes (Great Alpine Road) is a 700 km long route through the French Alps devised by the French Touring Club and constructed between 1909 and 1937. It runs from Lake Geneva to Menton on the Mediterranean…

Col des Gets (1,170 m), Col de la Colombière (1,613 m), Col des Aravis (1,486 m) and Col des Saisies (1,650 m) First day of the ride proper. We had a good breakfast in the hotel and went into town…

Col de Méraillet (1,605 m), Cormet de Roselend (1,968 m) and Col de l’Iseran (2,770 m) The first two hills of the day (Col de Méraillet and Cormet de Roselend) are pretty much the same climb. From the top of…

Col du Télégraphe (1,566 m), Col du Galibier (2,645 m) and Col d’Izoard (2,360 m) It was raining when we woke and a quick check of my weather app confirmed that it would continue for most of the day. We…

Col de Vars (2,108 m), Col de la Cayolle (2,326 m) and the climb to Valberg (1,430m) The Col de Vars from Guillestre was a pleasure to ride up and the last of the climbs I’ve done on previous trips. The Vars…

Col de la Couillole (1,678 m), Col Saint-Martin (1,500 m), Col de Turini (1,604 m) and the Col de Castillon (728 m) Last day of the Route des Grande Alpes and on paper the easiest with a net altitude drop…

For our last full day in France Luke, Jered and I took a day ride up to the Alpes-Maritimes north of Nice. We headed out of town to Grasse and followed the Route Napoleon towards Castellane and the Gorges du…