What's New in 2012

24th January 2012 - Happy New Year to you. We have a cold and humid winter in the French Alps this year, with a good covering of snow in all the local resorts. Alpe d'Huez has three and a half metres at the top of the station and I recommend visiting their panoramic webcam here which is placed at over 3,000 metres. A great view of the resort and surrounding mountains.

No cycling yet for me in 2012, but I have been running to try and help me lose weight after a relaxing Christmas break. As soon as I warms up, I plan to update the site with a video diary from the two main alpine Tour de France stages. We can expect the roads to open in late April.

24th October 2011 - The route of the 2012 Tour de France has now been announced, with three days in and around the French Alps. The 2012 race starts on Saturday June 30th in the northern city of Liège and then takes a clockwise route around France. In total, 3479 kilometres will be covered before the riders cross the finish line in Paris on Sunday July 22nd. Nine flat stages, four hilly stages and five mountain stages make up the road racing stages. There are also three individual time-trial stages over the three week event including a 6.1 kilometre prologue in Liège.

The race arrives in the Alps on Wednesday 11th July with the 194 kilometre stage from Mâcon to Bellegarde-sur-Valserine. For the first time in Tour history, the riders will climb the 18 kilometre ascent of the Grand Colombier before the Col de Richemond and then descend to finish for the first time in Bellegarde-sur-Valserine. The Grand Colombier ascends over 1250 metres and has a maximum gradient of 14% and with more time-trialing in 2012, the climbers will have to take advantage of mountains like the Grand Colombier.

Day two in the Alps is the classic alpine stage and takes place on Thursday 12th July. The 140 kilometre mountain stage takes the riders from Albertville to La Toussuire - Les Sybelles. Four climbs await the riders starting with 2000 metre Col de la Madeleine before the 2067 metre Col de la Croix de Fer via the Col du Glandon. The route descends part of the way down the Croix de Fer before climbing over the Col du Mollard. The final climb is the 18 kilometre ascent to the ski station of La Toussuire - Les Sybelles.

On Friday 13th July, the final 220 kilometre stage in the Alps takes the riders over two climbs on the transition into the northern Ardèche, south of St Etiene. The stage starts in Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne and after 34 kilometres crosses the 1188 metre Col du Grand Cucheron. The final alpine climb of 2012 is crossed after 79 kilometres, the 1134 metre Col du Granier. The riders then leave the Chartreuse and finish south of Lyon in Annonay Davézieux.

You can find more details on the Tour de France website here. I am currently working on the 2012 Preview Page for the Alpine Stages to give you my thoughts on the route, the climbs and the best places to watch the Tour de France in the Alps in 2012.

15th October 2011 - To finish off the cycling year, I headed into the high Alps with two friends for one last ride before the temperature drops and the snow arrives. Our 72 kilometre route started in Allemont, were the temperature was two degrees. We had ten kilometres of flat riding to Bourg d'Oisans before the route then climbed the first six hairpins to Alpe d'Huez and then turned off on to the d211a toward Auris-en-Oisans. The main ascent of the day was the stunning climb to the 1999 metre Col de Sarenne before a small descent and climb into the ski resort of Alpe d'Huez. The spectacular views continued on the balcony road to Villard-Reculas before the final descent to Allemont. In total, 72 kilometres and 2,200 metres of climbing.

I suffered more than I have done for many years on a bike when climbing to the Col de Sarenne. My last time on a bike had been at the start of September and a recent throat infection had kept me away from doing any sport for the previous week. I suffered but I loved it. The mountains were so clear and the views were incredible, and a 'road closed' sign at the bottom meant we didn't see more than five cars on the rugged and desolate climb of the Col de Sarenne. You you can check my Garmin data here.

4th October 2011 - The summer has stayed with us for most of the month of September, with sunny and warm weather for the last few weeks. I rode the Gieroise event at the start of September with Phil, giving us a 141 kilometre tour and taking us over the Col de la Croix des Adrets and the Col de Barrioz near Allevard. It was a cyclotourist event with a goal of making it around the route rather than riding as fast as you can. Our route card was stamped at key stops and the organisation had created a tour that took us on tiny back roads which kept us away from traffic. A great atmosphere with around 300 participant. You can see Phil's Garmin output with the map and profile here.

As we wait in anticipation for the announcement of the 2012 Tour de France route, I found an interesting website which has built the stage list from rumours of the route of the 2012 Tour de France. Velopeleton is predicting three days in the Alps with only one mountaintop finish at La Toussuire. You can see the details of the route here. We only have a few more days until the real route is announced.

It is going to be difficult to beat the 2011 Tour de France. I have been watching some of the key stages from this year's race again and it really was one of the most exciting races I have watched. Evans rode an incredible race and is such a worthy winner. He never gave up and it was great to see him seal the win in the time-trial on the roads I know so well around Grenoble. Stand out moments for me in the Alps included Contador and Sanchez working together in the last kilometres to Pinerolo to try and get away from the other main contenders. Andy Schleck attacking on the Col d'Izoard and winning at the Col du Galibier, and Alberto Contador's attack at the foot of the Col du Telegraphe on the stage to Alpe d'Huez.

20th July 2011 - You can forget the summer, it is snowing in July in the French Alps. Take a look at the Dauphine Libere website for yesterday's photos of the Col du Galibier where 10 centimetres of snow has fallen. You can see the photos here.

The Tour de France arrives in the high Alps today with the stage from Gap to Pinerolo. In Grenoble this morning, it is cool and raining and it is not a morning where it would be pleasant to ride a bike in the valley, let alone climb in the mountains. I hope we see some improvement in the weather over the next few days as the descents from the 2.744 metre Col Agnel and from the 2.646 metre Col du Galibier will freeze the riders. If you are visiting the Alps this week to watch the race, bring your coat and clothes to keep warm as I'm not sure how much sun we will see. You can check the weather forecast in Grenoble here.

We have a very interesting race this year with the main contenders close together as we arrive for the final week in the Alps. The Australian Evans and the Spaniard Sanchez look strong, and yesterday on the stage to Gap, Contador looked stronger than we saw him in the Pyrenees. I was sad to see the loss of Kazakh Alexander Vinokourov, Belgian Jurgen van den Broeck and the Englishman Bradley Wiggins. Vino especially is a rider who can ignite a stage with an unexpected attack, and we already saw this on the stage 8 to Super-Besse Sancy when he jumped away from the pack. He was caught before the end of the stage, but showed he had good legs.

Thor Hushovd as kept the momentum after winning the World Championships at the end of last year. Two stage wins this year in the Tour de France on two stages in the mountains. Stage 13 to Lourdes was one of the most exciting stage finishes I have ever seen. The Frenchman Jeremy Roy had two minutes lead on Hushovd at the Col du Soulor with 33 kilometres of descending and flat riding to the finish in Lourdes. However, Hushovd is one of the best descenders in the peleton and at speeds that topped 112 kilometres an hour, he came back to Roy inside the last three kilometres to attack and win.

Due to badly timed personal commitments, I won't be in Alpe d'Huez or Grenoble for the Tour this year, but I will certainly be watching. My prediction is Sanchez to win the Tour de France after an amazing ascent to Galibier and Alpe d'Huez, Evans will crack finish third and Contador will find his legs and climb to second overall. I may be wrong, but we have an intriguing next few days so let us watch and see what the mountains and time-trial bring.

17th June 2011 - I organised the fifth annual ascent to Alpe d'Huez for my fellow colleagues from HP Grenoble today. This year, we had a record 20 of us setting off from Bourg d'Oisans to climb to the ski resort of Alpe d'Huez, the same climb the Tour de France will use to finish the stage on 22nd July this year. None of the riders are serious cyclists and the goal was to bring the group into the Alps so they can enjoy this great road and feel a sense of achievement on riding to the ski resort.

We had warm temperatures with heavy rain as we prepared the bikes, but the rain thankfully disappeared by the time we climbed to Alpe d'Huez. As in one of the previous years editions, I chose the same date as an old car rally decided to use the climb as well. You can see this years video diary below.

8th June 2011 - The Critérium du Dauphiné time-trial was in Grenoble yesterday, and I was able to catch the last 20 riders come past on a grey and blustery day. Luckily the course was situated about 150 metres from my work so I was able to take a pause in the afternoon to watch the race. You can see photos in the gallery here. You can also see some addiional photographs from me on Cyclingnews here.

23rd May 2011 - The Balcon de Belledonne is probably the most famous day ride for a cyclist living in Grenoble. Starting in Grenoble, the 106 kilometre route follows the valley north towards Chambery for 22 kilometres before climbing into the Alps to Allevard-les-Bains and then turning south towards Uriage-les-Bains. The route follows the Belledonne massif and includes three marked mountain passes, the Barrioz, the Ayes and the Mouilles before undulating to Pinet. The final short ascent up to Venon includes the steepest gradients of the day before the eight kilometre descent back to the edge of the city.

The last time I had ridden the Balcon de Belledonne was in 2004 and yesterday, I spent the day with Gareth, Benoit and Phil enjoying the road and you can see the video diary below. It really is a spectacular place to cycle with views of the Alps, Chartreuse and Grenoble. We took the time for a coffee in Allevard and lunch at the Col des Mouilles and the predicted rain held off for the day.

For more details of the route and profile of the tour, you can visit my Garmin connect page here.

27th April 2011 - For my first cycle tour in the mountains, I chose a tour near Albertville that I had not ridden for nine years with the 1581 metre Col de l'Arpettaz and the 1498 metre Col des Aravis among the five cols on the route. The 97 kilometre route took Phil and myself around the 2,400 metre Mont Charvin and added up to over 2,800 metres of climbing.

For more details of the route and profile of the tour, you can visit my Garmin connect page here.

24th April 2011 - At the start of April on my cycle home from work, I was hit by a car in Grenoble. I didn't have any chance to move out of the way and hit the front of the car and flew over the car bonnet and landed heavily on my shoulder. Thankfully nothing was broken except for carbon spokes and other damage to my bike, but I damaged ligaments in my shoulder. I'm still taking codine to help me sleep at night and it was quite a shocking experience. However, I'm now keen to get on my bike again and with some holiday coming up, plan to get into the mountains and get some kilometres in my legs and take advantage of the sunny weather that we've had this month.

From Sunday June 5th to 12th 2011, the Critérium du Dauphiné will take the riders around the region for a week of great racing. The route includes a prologue in St-Jean-de-Maurienne and a time-trial in Grenoble, as well as mountain stages at the end of the week. For more information on the 2011 race, visit the official website here.

27th February 2011 - The Tour de France will spend four days in the Alps in 2011, with three stages in and around Grenoble. I have now updated the website with my 2011 Tour de France Alpine Preview, with details of each stage and climbs as well as my thoughts on viewing points.

The 2011 Marmotte event is already full with registrations now closed. There are plently of other events taking place over the summer and if you are visiting and want to ride an event in the mountains, you can check the page here for details.

8th January 2011 - Happy New Year to all. The winter weather that looks so promising in November and December disappeared and this weekend, a blast of warm air increased temperatures to nearly 20 degrees. I celebrated the good weather with my first ride of the year to the 1154 metre Col de l'Arzelier. I have never cycled so high, so early in the year. I am sure the snow will come eventually but this time last year, my daughter was skiing at the little ski resort on the second photograph and this year I was cycling there.

6th December 2010 - Registrations are now open for the 2011 Marmotte event. With the event limited to 7000 places, I would sign up as soon as you can if you plan on riding as the event. You can find the registration form on the Sport Communication website here.

9th October 2010 - The mornings are getting cooler in Grenoble now and we had the first dump of snow on the high mountains last week. However, with a week with temperatures in the mid 20s, the snow has disappeared again and we have perfect autumn cycling weather.

What started off as a good year for training went out the window at the end of May when I developed some knee problems which meant I couldn't take part in my eighth Marmotte event. Now I can think about next year and I do plan to ride in 2011, and will run and cycle over the winter to keep the weight a low as possible. I have rested over the summer and now don't feel any pain in my knees, so I will train with a little less intensity than last year and hopefully stay fit. Next year we have a Marmotte and Brevet de Randonneur des Alpes to look forward to and I plan to be at both.

The main news is that Alberto Contador is under invesigation for doping allegations at the Tour de France. Now it seems that the Dauphine is also under scrutiny. Cyclingnews.com have used my photo for their recent article on the Dauphine doping here.

14th July 2010 - Today is Bastille Day in France, a national holiday and a day where a French rider will try their best to win the stage of the Tour de France. Today's Tour de France stage takes the riders south from Chambery to the outskirts of Grenoble before turning towards Uriage-les-Bains and Vizille. The 16 kilometre section between Gieres and Vizille is part of our Wednesday cycle tour from work so it will be great to see the professionals riding a road that I have ridden so many times since arriving in France. The riders then climb the Cote de Laffrey and La Mure before the climb over the Col de Noyer to finish in Gap.

We have seen an interesting and unpredicatble start to this year's Tour de France. Alessandro Petacchi showed that he still had the legs to still win at the Tour de France and Mark Cavendish did get the stage wins he so badly needed. The tears on the podium in Montargis showed us that. Sylvain Chavanel took the stage to Spa and the yellow jersey on a day that the peleton felt that the roads of Liege-Bastonne-Liege were too dangerous. The stage to Arenberg was one of the most exciting Tour de France stages I have seen, with the race splintering into small groups on the cobbles of Paris-Roubaix and race favourite Andy Schleck taking time out of Alberto Contador with the help of Fabian Cancellera.

This week, we also saw Lance Armstrong's luck disappear with a puncture on the cobbles and a number of crashes that have ended any hope of finishing his last Tour de France on the podium. I would like to see him take a final stage victory before the end of the Tour. And yesterday, Andy Schleck and Alberto Contador blew the race apart on the Col de la Madeleine. The race is celebrating the 100 years of the Pyrenees this year and the numerous mountain stages in the last week will show us if Schleck can drop Contador to take the time he needs before the time-trial on the penultimate day. I hope we continue to see such great racing.

I did enjoy Jens Voight's quote from the first week - "If they listened to me we'd go flat out and then see how far we could go. They don't want to listen to me. I suggest it every now and then though."

13th June 2010 - My second day following the Critérium du Dauphiné with the sixth stage from Crolles to Alpe d'Huez. The riders had 151 kilometres of riding before the finish in the ski resort of Alpe d'Huez, with the Col du Grand Cucheron and the increasingly tough Col du Glandon climbed before the final ascent.

The climb of Alpe d'Huez was surprisingly quiet and I cycled up to hairpin nine with my camera gear and joined the spectators here for a great view of the road winding up the natural amphitheatre of the mountainside below. The race did not disappoint and we saw the lead group decrease down to two riders by the time the front of the race passed us.

You can find the photos in the gallery here.

12th June 2010 - I took an afternoon away from work yesterday to follow the fifth stage of the Critérium du Dauphiné on the climb to the ski resort of Chamrousse. The 17.5 kilometre climb would be the springboard for David Navarro from the Astana team to take his first professional victory in Grenoble.

You can find all my photos in the gallery here.

24th May 2010 - Yesterday gave me the chance to ride my first longer ride of 2010 with a 151 kilometres tour to the south of Grenoble, and a route that took me on the south-eastern side of the Vercors before riding back through the lovely, quiet roads of the Trieves region. In all, the route took me over nine mountain passes. Some of the passes were higher than others but the notable climbs were the 1402 metre Col de Menee, the 1318 metre Col de Grimone and the 899 metre Col du Fau from both sides and adding up to over 3,000 metres of climbing.

You can also see details logged from my Garmin 305 GPS, although I can see it had some problems to work with the tunnels as I do not remember riding at just under 500 kph and there is some additional blips on the climb to the Col de Grimone. You can see data from the ride here - click the Google Earth option to see the route in three dimensions.

25th January 2010 - Happy New Year to all site visitors. Grenoble has been enjoying a cold winter with a substantial fall of snow the week after New Year. Over 30 centimetres of snow fell in Grenoble which is a record for the ten years that I've lived in France. The irony was that Christmas and New Year break were snow free in the valley until the Monday 4th January when everybody returned back to work.

My plans this year include my eighth Marmotte event and you can already sign up online here. If you are planning to ride the event, I'd recommend registering as soon as possible and the event is now limited to 7,000 places. I signed up last week for myself and a friend, and I have number 1600 with my friend 4500. My other goal is the Tour de Mont Aiguille running event in June. I really enjoyed running the 24 kilometres in 2009, so will try and improve on last year's time.

I have also heard that the Challenge du Dauphine event may not be run this year at the end of May. I have heard that the Dauphine Libere, the regional newspaper, has new priorities. I'll confirm this.

24th July 2009 - I spent the day in Annecy following stage 18 of the Tour de France with my friend Alain. I wasn't going to turn down his offer to join him after Bernard Hinault had invited him and a friend for the day. You can see my photos from the day here. I spent time in the Tour Village, the team warm-up area and near the start ramp.

19th July 2009 - An epic day out in the Alps with the 2009 edition of the Brevet de Randonneur des Alpes. Held every two years, the 225 kilometre event includes 4,650 metres of climbing on a route that starts and finishes in Vizille, just outside Grenoble. The route climbed the 2,646m Col du Galibier, 1,566m Col du Telegraphe, 1,638m Col du Mollard and the 2,067m Col de la Croix de Fer. I finished in a little over 10 hours and had a great day on the bike in one of the best cycling events I have ever ridden in the Alps. Great organisation, fantastic scenery and the four seasons in one day. Three days before the event, we had 38 degrees in Grenoble, the day before, we had snow down to 2,200 metres on the Col du Galibier. Here is my video diary from the ride.

6th July 2009 - I joined 7,000 cyclists on Saturday and rode my seventh Marmotte event. It was a day when the heat played an important factor, and the climb to Alpe d'Huez was as hard as I can remember. I finished in 920th place in a time of eight hours and 18 minutes, over seven minutes faster than in 2008 but I was six minutes slower on Alpe d'Huez. Here is my video diary.

6th May 2009 - I've added some new Cycling Wallpapers to download on the Wallpaper page with a Lance Armstrong theme to celebrate the return of Lance in the 2009 Tour de France, as well as a Dauphine Libere wallpaper and some Grenoble Cycling Page themes with a mixture of races and mountain photos. Do let me know if you have any comments and if I should add some more.

Grenoble - A city in the heart of the Alps

Surrounded by three mountain ranges, Grenoble is in a unique position and offers a cyclist a huge variety of rides. The rolling mountains of the Chartreuse to the north, the high plateau of the Vercors to the south-west before the huge imposing climbs of the Alps to the east.