Three New Videos: Your Route to L’Étape, La Marmotte, and the Climb That Starts It All
If you’re staring down the summer cycling calendar — or just dreaming about it from the turbo — there are three new videos on the channel you’ll want to watch this week.
Cycling from Grenoble to the Base of Alpe d’Huez
Most riders arrive into Grenoble by train or bus from Geneva or Lyon, throw the bike together at the station, and head straight for a hire car or transfer up to Bourg. But the ride out from Grenoble to the foot of Alpe d’Huez is doable — with caveats. It’s a mix of cycle paths, shared routes, and stretches that aren’t exactly pleasant. This video walks you through what it’s actually like, so you can decide whether to ride it or skip it.
Less Than 80 Days to L’Étape du Tour: Where Are You Really?
The countdown is on. This video is a straight-talking gut check — not a training plan, not a panic piece. If you’re signed up for L’Étape and you’re quietly wondering whether you’re where you should be, this one’s for you. I’ve seen a lot of riders come through Bourg in July, and I’ll tell you what separates the ones who finish smiling from the ones who don’t.
→ [Watch the video]
La Marmotte: The Ultimate Guide
The Granfondo that breaks people. Glandon, Télégraphe, Galibier, Alpe d’Huez — back to back, in one day, in July heat. This is the full guide: the route, the climbs, the pacing, the feed stops, and the mistakes I see riders make every year. If La Marmotte is on your bucket list — this year or next — start here.
→ [Watch the video]
Want More Than a Video?
Watching is one thing. Riding these roads with someone who’s lived and ridden in France for years, knows every café, every hidden col, and speaks French at the boulangerie? That’s another.
I run small, custom guided cycling holidays (with optional carbon all road bike hire) right across France — the Alpe d’Huez region and the wider Alps, Normandy, Brittany, the Loire, the Pyrenees, and beyond. Every trip is built around what you want to ride, not a fixed itinerary. Whether it’s a bucket-list Marmotte recon with the support car following, a quiet week on empty Normandy lanes, châteaux and tailwinds along the Loire, or the legendary cols of the Pyrenees, it’s just me, your group, and the roads I know best.