Brief History and Overview of the Tour
This Alps Cycling tour is modeled after the Pyrenees tour. It's the same intensity and difficuly. If you are looking for an opportunity to immerse yourself in the French Alps, with an experience that will challenge your cycling skills and reward you with a dramatic exposure to beautiful mountains, then this trip is for you.
The valley on the east side of the Col d'Izoard.
Every sport has an event or competition that stands as its historic and defining challenge. I think most would agree that for cycling the “Tour de France” is that event, and that within the “Tour de France” the Alps (and the Pyrenees) are the portion of the race that is the most difficult and legendary. You and I will never compete in the “Tour de France,” but we can as amateur cyclists ride our bikes in the Alps and experience the history, legends, and physical challenges.
The Alps are different than the Pyrenees in a couple of significant ways. First the mountain passes are at a higher elevation, sometimes 7000 to 9000 ft - vs the Pyrenees passes topping out at 6800 ft (Tourmalet and Tentes). Therefore this can bring into play the "into thin air" hurt, a physiological response that varies from person to person. The route is organized like the Pyrenees with the same format, 12 stages with 2 rest days, each rest day after 4 consecutive riding days (4 rides, rest, 4 rides, rest, 4 rides ... end). This is obviously tough riding but that's what we want isn't it?
At the top of the Cod du Croix de Fer, looking southward and down the valley, a moment to reflect and bask in the joy of a cycling adventure.
- Total round trip mileage, approximately 1000 miles, total elevation climbed 100,000 feet.
- The average day of riding in the mountains was 74.5 miles with 8491 feet of climbing, with the longest day at 113 miles, and the highest day of elevation gain at 13,000 feet! Average ride time per day 5.5 hours.
Not bad! However, these numbers, as impressive as they may seem, do not provide the details of how hard, satisfying and magnificent the riding actually is. For that you have to come and do it yourself.
An amazing stat!! If you do the entire ride you will not travel/sit in a vehicle for 2 weeks, and yet you will cover/pedal 1000 miles. Personally I think that is incredible and very cool. Talk about "unplugging" from reality.
Oh, and the next time another cyclist tries to strut their stuff with some claim about a 4 day trip covering 300 miles you can say, "1000 miles, 100,000 ft, 12 days of riding - the Alps 1000 tour.!"
