Cycling in France, July 2004
These are some of the photos taken
during the French Alps cycling tour in 2004 organized by Erickson Cycle Tours, Inc.
Day -1 : Saturday July 10 ..... Arrival
Flew into Geneva, unpacked the bicycle and rode with Richard from
Ferney-Voltaire to Gex and back.Day 0 : Sunday July 11 ..... Warming up for the Tour.
Rode with Greg, John and Richard from Ferney-Voltaire to Versoix to Nyon (381m), up the Cote de Nyon to St Cergue (1100m)to la Cure over the Col de Faucille (1376 m), through Gex (600m) back to Ferney-Voltaire.
It was cold and rainy at the top.
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| St Cergue | St Cergue | Lake Geneva from Gex |
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| Looking
into the town of Gex from the world war II memorial |
Greg and Richard in Gex | John and Greg in Gex |
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| Greg,
Myself and John riding through Gex |
Riding
home from Gex |
At a
Cafe in Ferney-Voltaire |
Day 1 : Monday July 12 ... Arrival day and a ``Short Ride''.
Rode with group of 11 from Ferney-Voltaire to Nyon, up the back
side of the Cote de
Nyon, lunch at St Cergue, down the Cote de Nyon to Borex to Versonne and back to Ferney-Voltaire. It was cold and wet at the top, and the decent was chilly and it was down hill or flat all
the way home..
Day 2 : Tuesday July 13 ... Ferney-Voltaire to Eloise.
Started by climbing the Col de
Faucille from Gex. It was cold and rainy at the top (coldest
yet). Had lunch mid way down the decent in Mijoux and then did some valley cruising into Eloise.
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| Joe and
Richard having lunch. (Angela and I out of picture) We are all soaking wet and cold after the climb up the Col de Faucille. |
View from
Hotel room in Eloise. |
Watching the tour on TV |
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| Christi, Richard and Wick | Eloise
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Wick and Richard |
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| John at
dinner in Eloise after his mighty crash |
Wick | Richard
... a face only his mother could love |
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| Kathy | Corn
Fields |
Day 3 : Wednesday July 14 (Bastille Day) ...
Eloise to Champagneux.
Today we rode from Eloise to Seyssel to Ruffieux to Chindrieux to Chanaz to Yennie to Loiseux to Mt Tournier to Gresin to Champagneux.
Started with a flat ride to Chanaz , and then a climb up the Col du Mont-Tournier, and then a beautiful decent into Champagneux.
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| On the road to Chanaz | On the road to Chanaz | Wick in
Chanaz at the patisserie, having a pastry and cafe au lait on Bastille day. |
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| Richard
in
Chanaz at the patisserie. |
The top of the col du Mont-Tournier | Richard
and Wick at the top |
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| View from
the top of the ridge, after the great decent from the col du Mont-Tournier, looking down at Champagneux. |
View from
the back of the hotel in Champagneux |
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| Taking a
photo near Chanaz |
Day 4 : Thursday July 15 ... Champagneux to Rencurel.
Rode from Champagneuz to St Genis to St Etienne, up the Col de la Croix
des Mille Martyrs,to Voiron to Tullins to St Gervais up the Col de Romeyere to Rencurel.
Had a nice rest stop at the top of the Col de la Croix des Mille Martyrs.
It was hot on the road, particularly from St Gervais up the Romeyere.
Approx 102 km of riding with 5800 ft of climbing for the day.
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| At the
top of the Col de la Croix des Mille Martyrs. |
Wick and
Angela relaxing at the top |
On the
road to
Vieron. The road crosses back under itself... it is clearer in the high-res. picture. |
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| Ted and
Miranda at lunch in Voiron, having just ordered the plat du jour. |
Joe and Angela at lunch in Voiron | Kent and Marty |
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| Greg |
Wick and Richard | Looking
down the Col de Romeyere from the 15% section. |
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| Looking
down the 15% grade of the Col de Romeyere |
Richard
and I on
15% |
Richard
pointing down hill on the 15% section |
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| Miranda cresting the Col de Romeyere | The top of the Col de Romeyere | Richard cresting Col de Romeyere |
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| Ted,
Linda and Haley ... post climb resting. |
Dinner
in Rencural. Dave, Dick, John, Pam, Marcia |
View from
the room in the hotel in Rencurel. |
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| The hotel
in Rencurel. |
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Day 5 : Friday July 16 ... Rest Day
Day 6 : Saturday July 17 ... Rencurel to Chichilliane
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| Kent and Dick | Ted, Miranda and Marcia |
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| Angela | Marcia and Galen | Marcia and Galen |
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| Looking
down from the top of the Col de Rousset |
Looking
across from the rest area on the top of the Col de Rousset |
Dave
refueling in
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| View from
the carpark at the hotel in Chichilliane |
The
living room in the hotel in Chichilliane. This where we watched the tour this day. |
Staircase
to our rooms in the hotel in Chichilliane |
Day 7 : Sunday July 18 ... Chichilliane to Le Bourg d'Oisans (base of Alpe D'Huez)
Dinner was a Margarita Pizza which we learned has a fried egg on it, quite tasty. |
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| Richard in Mens. | Alpe
D'Huez from our hotel in Le Bourg d'Oisans. In the high res. picture you can see the camper vans lining the road at the top of Alpe D'Huez. This is 2 days before the time-trial in the tour de France. |
Our
hotel in Le Bourg
d'Oisans. |
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| Looking
up the main street of Le Bourg d'Oisans. Many cafes, patisseries, chocolate shops, and an excellent bike shop. |
The canal
in Le Bourg d'Oisans.
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Day 8 : Monday July 19 ... Alpe D'Huez
Climbing Alpe D'Huez ... 14 kms of pain.
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| The
finish line on the top of Alpe D'Huez |
John
enjoying
lunch on Alpe D'Huez. Behind him is a clear view of Mont Blanc in the distance. |
Linda,
Marty and Haley enjoying lunch at the top. |
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| Alpe D'Huez village | One of
the switch backs |
A look
down the mountain. |
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| A look
back up to the top |
Three
switch backs |
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| A look down to Le Bourg d'Oisans in the valley | A look
down to Le Bourg
d'Oisans in the valley, the camera is at a steeper angle than in the previous shot. |
Day 9 : Tuesday July 20 ... Le Bourg d'Oisans to Albiez le Jeune
We rolled out of Le Bourg d'Oisans and then climed the Col du Glandon (1924 m). This is quite a beast and it was raining hard at the top.We stopped for a couple of hot chocolates at the top, then continued to climb the Col de la Croix de Fer from which there are beautiful
sweeping views. After a nice decent, during which I flatted, we went over the Col du Mollard where there were beautiful views,
and a short but nice decent into Albiez le Jeune (1350 m).
We rode approx 42 mils with 6800 ft of climbing (not including the rollers).
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| Joe,
Myself and Mike at the top of the Col du Glandon |
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| View from the hotel room in Albiez le Jeune | Another view from the hotel room in Albiez le Jeune |
Day 10 : Wednesday July 21 ... Albiez le Jeune to Albertville
We decended out of Albiez le Jeune down 41 switch backs intoSt Jean-de Maurienne, a great way to start the day.After some valley cruising, negotiating the roads to la Chambre (448 m), we climbed the Col de la Madeleine (1993 m).
t was a very hot day, 97 degrees on the road, and the Madeleine is brutal. We had lunch at the top (Olympic pizza and a coke!)
and then went over the Madeleine (great decent) into Albertville.
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| Richard
at the top of the Col de la Madeleine |
Having lunch on the top of the Col de la Madeleine | Joe and
Tough Dave at the top of the Madeleine |
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Lobby of the Hotel Million in Albertville |
Hotel
Million |
Just
outside the Hotel Million |
Day 11 : Thursday July 22 ... Rest Day in Albertville.
This is the day we saw the Tour de France. Many of the group went back up the Col de la Madeleine to see them crest,but the rest of us stayed in Albertville and saw them fly by on one of the main streets.
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| Wick
enjoying a pre-tour latte in Albertville on the rest day. It is 10.02 am, from his watch. |
Linda and
Marty having lunch in Albertville |
A main
street in Albertville along which the tour passed. |
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| The
pre-tour circus that arrived an hour or so prior to the riders themselves. |
Another
float. |
Another float. |
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| Another float. | Lance
cruising up the Col de la Madeleine |
Jim
watching the tour go by on the top of the Madeleine |
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| Horns cheering the riders |
Day 12 : Friday July 23 ... Albertville to Talloires.
We started by a climb up the Col de Talmie, went up the hard way as we took a wrong turn out of Albertville.We then decended into .... . After eating some chocolate we went to the base of the Col de la Forclaz (1157 m).
as we (Miranda, Greg, Dick and I) got to the base we took a while to decide to climb it...it is not that long (8 km)
but is steep with a couple of 15% sections. The views of Lake Annecy and the surrounding countryside from the top
made the climb very worthwhile.
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| Miranda
crests the Col de la Forclaz. It rained during our ascent, which kept the temperature just nice. |
Looking back down from the top of the Col de la Forclaz. | At the
top. |
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| Lake
Annecy from the top of the Col de la Forclaz. |
An other
view (just to the right) |
Miranda
on the top of the Col de la Forclaz. She is teaching me to read a map. |
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| Greg crests the Col de la Forclaz. | Contents
of the bike shed! Richard was not feeling so good, and the rooms in the hotel were not ready yet... sleeping in the bike shed is the only other option. |
Richard,
Dan, Christi and Miranda in a cafe in Talloires having lunch. Richard was finally convinced to leave the bike shed. |
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| Greg | Richard recovering | View from
the room in the Palace Hotel in Talloires. |
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| Another
view from the hotel room |
Another view from the hotel room | Another view from the hotel room |
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| Another view from the hotel room | The
Palace Hotel as seen from the boat tour |
Day 13 : Saturday July 24 ... Rest Day in Talloires.
Many of us spent the day in Annecy, walking around the town, visiting patisseries, having cafe au lates, and generally having a rough time of it. |
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| Sight
seeing in Annecy |
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On the second night in Talloires we stayed at ``The Abbey''....
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| The
inside of the hotel room in ``The Abbey''. This was truly unique and quite amazing. |
Inside the room | Inside the room |
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| The
ceiling of the hotel room. |
View from the room. |
Day 14 : Sunday July 25 ... Talloires to Ferney-Voltaire.
The last day of our tour.We rode from Talloires up the Col de Bluffy, to Parmelan to Thorens-Glieres to Groisy to Cruseilles, up Mont Saleve (1193 m)
to Blaise to Chenex to Ferney-Voltaire.
We started with the Col de Bluffy (a `free'' col), then climbed some steep roads laid by the Romans,
before flying along to our lunch stop/picnic in Cruseilles.
After lunch we climbed Mont Saleve, and descended to a rest stop with great sweeping views.
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| John,
Kent and
Richard (and I) having a latte break in Cruseilles before joining the rest of the group for the picnic. It is 11.40 am, by Richards watch. |
Coca Cola !!! | Cruseilles |
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| Climbing the hill just outside of Groisy | Climbing the hill just outside of Groisy | Riding to
the base of Mont Saleve after lunch in Cruseilles |
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| View from
a rest stop a short distance down from the top of Mont Saleve. |
Miranda, Kent and Richard | Richard and Wick |
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| Tough Dave | Tough Dave | Glen
Erickson watching the tour on TV back in Ferney-Voltaire, after leading Miranda, Richard, Kathy and I back through Geneva. |
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| Wick and
Richard having a quiet beer and watching the tour on TV back in Ferney-Voltaire. |
The last
supper : clockwise...Miranda, Dick, Me, Tough Dave, Richard, Glen, Kathy, Greg |
PostTour ... Geneva
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| Views
from the Geneva Yacht Club. |
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| Fountain
in Lake Geneva |
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| Modern
Art Museum in Geneva |
Old town
Geneva |
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| The
contents of my bike case upon returning from the trip. |