It'll push you to your limits
It'll push you to your limits
Riding mountains is absolutely nothing like any riding you’ll do in the UK. And the first time you do it, it can be quite a shock to the system as it’s rather difficult to mentally commit yourself to slogging away uphill all morning or afternoon.
But it’s a fantastic way of combining a holiday to one of the most beautiful places in the world with some quality training or even just a once in a lifetime experience of riding some seriously tough roads.
And there’s something for everyone as well. You don’t have to be a super strong rider to tackle these climbs, just make sure you have the correct gear ratio and keep well fuelled/hydrated. And remember, not every mountain has to be ridden at your limit – in fact, if you’re thinking of spending a day taking in a few passes you’ll want to measure your effort rather carefully.
On the other hand, if you do fancy a real test, many of the climbs have Strava segments or ballpark figures for the ascent if you want to see how you stack up against other riders or even against the pros. For example, the benchmark for Alpe d’Huez is often quoted as an hour, and they have a weekly time trial up the mountain during the summer months where the roads are closed to the traffic.
In fact, many of the famous passes in the Alps have days where they’ll close to traffic and allow cyclists to take over, so it’s definitely worth doing some research on that before you go. Check out the regional websites for days without cars. As an example, here’s the Hautes Alpes schedule for this year.