alps trip from the speedshop program. possible?

[phatmanace]

I watched the "speedshop" program on BBC2 (there's a thread running on the TV forum about it) last night and thought the trip over the top of the alps from France to Italy was very cool.

Was curious if anyone here has done it, and do you know if you can hire a bike to do it on from Brahman (might have spelt that wrong! - but it was the starting village on the French side )

[Andybow]

theres a few bike rental places in Chambery and Grenoble if you want to hire, but as it isn’t that far your best getting a few together hiring a van doing it that way, you can do it in a day driving from south east uk.
They started in Bramans in the Modane Valley, it’s not a testing ride to just go over to Italy from there, stunning views though. Susa in Italy is nice and cheap place to stay, there’s so many trails around there to choose from though.

[Andybow]

[roboxm3]

I've not done it on a hired bike but we rode from the UK to Milan and back last year to watch the F1 at Monza.

The way there was France, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, Italy via Lake Como etc. and the way back was Italy straight into France and then over to the UK.

To be honest, we were pushed for time travel-wise, so didn't take the best routes for good roads and scenery but it was still fun and stunning over/through the Alps.

This year we're going to do Mugello and allow an additional day for travel each way and take in ore of the Alps roads and scenery.

[Dakkon]

Last year we did Calais, Reims, Besancon, Andermatt (plus some passes - Furka etc), we then went North to Zurich and into Southern Germany, then Verdun and back to Calais

But you could just carry on South, it is all very nice in the mountains. you Just need to pick a route and decide which passes you want to do from Either Switzerland or France into Italy.

Just be realistic on distance between stops, we were far too ambitious and arrived late each day at the next stop which meant we did not appreciate the places we actually stopped at.

[carl-xj6xs]

I watched this last night and it has got the inspirational juices flowing. I haven't done masses of research yet but I am sure in that region you could easily tie a couple of really good routes together. My plan will be to travel down in the van and try and work a 3-4 day loop to work back to it.

[black-k1]

I suspect the interest in relation to the the Speedshop program is doing the "Alps cross" off tarmac. I've never done that so cant give specific advice although I have heard of a few people doing similar in the Pyrenees between Spain and France.

Dakkon said:

...

Just be realistic on distance between stops, we were far too ambitious and arrived late each day at the next stop which meant we did not appreciate the places we actually stopped at.

This is what feeds the approach to the Old Gits trips. Ideally, to enjoy roads "properly" you need to remove time/distance pressures and be without your luggage. That's why we book a destination for a number of days and do ride outs from there. It's very rare we "run out" of good roads to ride from any given location as long as we're careful where we book.

[squirdan]

someone - possibly him - should turn this into an arrive and ride thing. KTM 525s or something similar

i dont have a suitable bike, but I'd be v keen to do that offroad trip. I did an Ady Smith weekend once and it was excellent fun

should be possible in a long weekend - if time was tight TGV prob best bet to get there,

[Andybow]

I’ve done loads of routes around that area (on road and Offroad) as I used to live there. Italy is better as they have loads of Offroad trails through the mountains.