For safety and the return journey, we rented a small nine-seater van and the Thônes Cycling Club lent us a bike trailer. Two people from our entourage acted as drivers and escorts, so there were eight of us on the starting line: six on bikes (David, Emmanuel, Hervé, Jean-Marc, Samuel and myself) and two in the vehicle (François and Lionel).
Prepare for the return trip.
In the evenings, we stayed in gites on a half-board basis, and at lunchtime we ate at restaurants on our itinerary, except once when we had a picnic enjoying the sunshine. We were always made very welcome.
As for my bike, I had a Trek Domane SL in carbon with disc brakes, compact crankset and big 32mm tires, a bit like gravel. My fellow riders had more conventional road bikes with pad brakes. Each carried only a small handlebar bag.
We had also brought along a "mullet", a spare bike in case of need, but fortunately it was not used. Incredibly, the six of us didn't have a single mechanical problem, not even a puncture! No physical problems either. Several of us wondered whether we'd be able to keep going day after day, and here again it went well. The levels were different, but we expected each other at the top and bottom of the passes.
Luckily we had the van. We set off on September 19 and it was raining buckets of water. At the top of Cormet de Roselend, it was 5 degrees, a crazy wind, we had the bar on our foreheads... Thanks to our assistance vehicle, we were able to change and put on warm clothes before the descent. The first two days were terrible, with snow at the top of the Col de l'Iseran. I wore a cap under my helmet, leggings, warm underwear, a fleece, thick gloves... Fortunately, from the third day onwards the fine weather returned, despite chilly mornings between 5 and 10 degrees.
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In Monêtier-les-Bains, at the end of the day we were able to enjoy 2 hours at the Grands Bains with its hot springs: excellent for recovery and relaxation at the halfway point!
