Route des Alpes - 8 days
Saddle up, hit the road and let's go: cycling from my home in Lausanne to Nice, then Aix through the alpine cols.
From Sept 5th to Sept 11th, my lover and I decided to go on a cruise. More exactly, we decided to cruise through the Alps, my beloved home mountains. I don't who from my lover or myself initiated the idea first, but it felt like a common decision we took when we hit the road, Spätzli and me. (Spätzli is the name of my bike by the way. I felt like Specialized Tarmac SL6 is way too long - and spätzlis are tasty).
The plan was to follow the mountains cols from Thonon to Nice:
Which resulted, in such an itinerary for 8 days:
We more or less sticked to it, even though I forgot that I don't live in Thonon but in Lausanne (which created Etape Zero), and that I don't have any friends in Nice but in Aix (which created Etape 8, equaling to 200 additional kilometers. Thank you). And that my friend in Bourg St Maurice lives not in BourgSt Maurice but in Les Chapelles, which is an additional 300 height meters up. Believe me, after a full day of cycling, this hurts.
So in the end, it was more something like:
Etape 0 : Lausanne à Thonon-les-Bains (87km, 821D+),
Etape 1 : Thonon-les-Bains à La Clusaz (100 km, 2116 D+)
Etape 2 : La Clusaz à Les Chapelles (102 km, 3151 D+)
Etape 3 : Les Chapelles à Modane (112 km, 2329 D+)
Etape 4 : Modane à Briançon (90 km, 2131 D+)
Etape 5 : Briançon à Barcelonnette (100 km, 2540 D+)
Etape 6 : Barcelonnette à Roquebillière (125 km, 2885 D+)
Etape 7 : Roquebillière à Nice (100 km, 2133 D+)
Etape 8: Nice à Aix-en-Provence (208 km, 1633 D+)
Full gpx track to be posted soon!
Bike for Life Podcast about this trip: Woman on a Mission