Welcome to the 2026 European bike tour (Update July 2nd)
We will be riding from Lyon France to Turin Italy and back in 14 days. Follow along on our adventure as we cycle some of the most picturesque back roads in the French and Italian alps. The six of us will be packing our own equipment but will be staying in hotels along the way.
I hope to post every at the end of ever day to keep you up to date of our progress
The Adventures
Everyone has made it except for Jim. His location is unknown, hopefully he will make it before the start of the ride tomorrow. Start time is now 7:30am with the temps getting in the 100s during the day we are starting just after breakfast. Tomorrow we ride to Chatte https://ridewithgps.com/routes/53336546
Day one the ride to Chatte
Leaving out of Lyon with high hopes and fresh legs we started the journey from Lyon to Turin Italy. Unknowns to us it would start out with some of the hottest days ever in France. At the peak of day one my Garmin showed 124 degrees. The first glitch at 20 miles out my crank fell off, I was helping others put their bikes together and forgot to tighten my crank bolts. With a little work we were back on the road. The second glitch was out lunch stop, there was nothing planed so we just stoped in the first place possable. The only thing on the menu was the Plate De Jour which we took to be sausage and potato’s , what we got was pork tripe which no one could eat. Back on the bike and headed for the last climb of the day which was brutal , the temps hung around 110 degrees but we finally make it over the top and down to the hotel. The hotel was wonderful with oversized rooms and a bar down stairs, now off to sleep and start it over again tomorrow.
Day two the ride to Grenoble
One again we were on our bikes with high hopes but not so fresh legs. Today will be the most daily climbing of the tour with 7856 feet of climbing. The first climb was right out of the gate with 4k to the top. Most of the ride was in the shade and the temps had not come up yet. Down the other side to our lunch break, oh by the way Jim finaly showed up the night before and was there to join us. After lunch the true misery began the temps were above 100 degrees and it was another 4K to the top, with multiple stops it took 3 hours to get to Villard de lans for a well deserved beer. All was left was a down hill of 4K and the ride to the hotel. As was well known here the afternoon showers started with 30 mile and hour winds making the simple ride to the hotel an adventure in itself.
Day three Grenoble to L’Alpe D’Huez
Well once again the Adventure begins , Jim had realized that he left his backpack at the restaurant at the halfway point the day before, it has his passport, so today he is taking the bus back to see if he could find it while the rest of us headed out to L’Alpe D’Huez. Oh by the way Jeff had noticed that there was a road closure to cyclist , it was the only road to our hotel so we had to book all new rooms at the top of L’Alpe D’Huez, this changes our route and we are going to miss the climb up Vallard De Note Dame.
Now at day 9 A lot has happened , it is still hot but has tapered down below 100 degrees. We are in Italy and it is still just the 5 of us, Jim is nowhere near where to be found. Yesterday was a day off in Torino and we did the sight seeing thing and let our legs recover. Today was 60 miles of mostly flats only 3K of climbing
Each of us came across the top at different times 5K to get to the top and 100 degree weather made it tought.
Our hotel was a refitted Nunery a beautiful hotel.
Day 10 Day had us come up the valley 60 miles and 4500 foot of climbing In front of us was Monte Blanc
Although we did not climb it , it reminded us we were in the Alpes and everything is tough. What a beautiful country, tonight is out last night in Italy tomorrow we will be back to France.
Sounds like a wonderful trip!
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