Well the Tour de France visits here…what more do we need to say?! Samoens is simply a great location for a road cycling holiday in the French Alps.
The mountains & cols around Samoens have provided many memorable stages in the annual race and also provide spectacular training terrain for the more modest cyclist like most of us are. As keen cyclists we take great care in planning routes with guests to make sure you get the most out of the area. Generally Chris will host one or two group rides a week and on other days will provide a detailed route plan & map.
Here’s a taster of some of our regular routes, but bear in mind that as well as the cols there are some lovely valley bottom routes too that provide much easier terrain and make for great intro / rest day rides. It’s really up to you how easy or how hard you want to make your cycling holiday and we’ll just point you in the right direction.
Along the valley from Samoens to Taninges and then continue easily in the valley bottom before breaking off and covering some great smaller roads before ascending the Col de Ramaz. Lovely high-level descent down through ski resort of Praz-de-Lys before a sneaky back-road descent back down to Taninges. Return to the chalet via the valley bottom.
A truly epic day out. After a short warm-up we climb the interesting Col de Encrenaz on a lovely quiet road before heading down towards Morzine. A tough ascent towards Avoriaz follows via the Col de Joux Verte, taking in the lovely alpine pastures en-route. Classic hair-pin descent before returning via either the Col de Joux Plane for the adventurous or via Les Gets for the knackered!
As a bit of fun and to provide some healthy chalet competition we keep a record of all our guests’ efforts up the main climb from Samoens, the iconic Col de Joux Plane. This is the climb that Pantani has won, Armstrong has struggled on and Landis got disqualified on. All our cycling guests at some point do this col and it starts just a short ride away from the chalet door in Samoens. Here’s the top times recorded so far, but it’s more about the achievement of just doing the climb and enjoying the views (and the celebratory beer) at the café at the top. We’ve had guests that have also walked half the climb and taken over 2 hrs so it’s a climb for all-comers not just the Billy Whizz’s.
You can see a full route description & detailed climb profile at climbybike.
In June the local Cyclopsortive event takes place in the surrounding area. The course varies slightly every year but participants can generally choose from a shorter 80km / 1600m ascent route or the very challenging 120km / 3500 m ascent. The event always takes place on a Sunday in late June, full details available at Cyclopsortive event.
The Avoriaz hill-climb event takes place twice a year from nearby Morzine up to the ski resort of Avoriaz (and also on the 11th July this year on the Tour de France).
Event No.1 is always held on Bastille Day on 14th July with Event No.2 taking place generally on the middle Sunday of August. It’s a 12km climb with 800m ascent, so not as tough as some other climbs in the area but anybody who ventures up it will be feeling it in their legs by the top. Great descent down too.
Thanks again to climbybike for a full profile.
We'd like your feedback and your views on your cycling holiday around Samoens, so feel free to add your comments for all others to see.
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30 April 2010
Phil
Epic cycling…. some great routes. Thanks for all your help & advice