I keep seeing absolutely stunning photos of the gravel up and around Annecy, so I put together a route with the aid of Komoot to see if I could find the promised land.
I had a few way points I wanted to hit such as the climb up Col des Glières knowing it would lead us to a large plateau with many gravel access roads. From here I would lean on Komoot’s mapping to lend me a helping hand. It started off with a bit of single track through an alpine forest, slowly but surely the woodland became bog… making our way though the trail became tree roots, boulders, and bits that had completely washed away. When we finally found the gravel it took us down the side of the mountain on a 30% grade that a downhill bike would struggle with!
So although these scenes look idillic, I hated this ride, so much so I shouted at the mountain about never ending.
by _robjlee_
2 Comments
I just came back from the Pyrenees, and I had my gravel bike with me. I think my experience is similar to yours.
They tend to add some kind of pavement to even smaller roads, as long as the road actually gets you somewhere. On smaller mountain roads this is commonly chipseal, but still pretty smooth and absolutely comfortable with say 32 mm slicks.
The roads that are not paved can have very steep sections. Sometimes the steeper sections have concrete, but if not then they can be very rough with the loose material having been washed away. It’s often so that you wish you had a mountain bike instead, although I did somehow manage with 46 mm tires.
All in all, I think France is mostly not great for gravel. However, it is one of the best places on the planet for a road bike. Been there maybe 15 times with a bike.
Route de la soif will be a “smoother” ride, if you’re still in the area you should go do it before it gets too hot!