Prepping for the Vosges

Next month, we’ll be heading for Colmar, the self-proclaimed capital of Alsatian wine.

While I’m sure that this title alone will make some of my readers go wild, I’m actually just going there because it’s an excellent place to start cycling trips through the Vosges mountains.

Gérardmer – or La Bresse – is probably the more popular choice among cyclists to set up their base camp, but I also want to squeeze in some rides in the Black Forest on the other side of the border, which makes Colmar the better choice.

The Vosges mountain area can be divided in three areas: the High, Middle and Lower Vosges, basically corresponding to the height of the summits in each area.

As the Vosges are rated ‘low mountains’, they do not rise above 1,500 meters. The highest summits are the Grand Ballon (1,424 m), the Storkenkopf (1,366 m) and Hohneck (1,364 m).

Some of these – like the Storkenkopf – cannot be cycled at all, or not with a normal road/race bike, but between the over 60 that can, and their various starting points, I’m certain that the midweek we’ve booked will not be enough to climb them all.

The Grand Ballon for instance, has no less than six alternatives, although there is some overlap: the climbs from Moosch and Saint Amarin join at Geishouse and the ones from Willer, Cernay, Soultz and Wattwiller join at the Col Amic, near Goldbach.

These are all approaching from the south (-east/-west) – if you want to reach the Grand Ballon from the north, you’ll have to get up le Markstein first – either from Oderen or via the Platzerwasel from Munster/Sondernach – and ride the plateau for some kilometers to reach the final towards the summit of the Grand Ballon.

Interesting organized challenges are the ‘Les 3 Ballons’ or the ‘Gran Fondo Vosges’: they are considered the ‘ideal preparation for the Marmotte Gran Fondo‘.

While I will certainly not be riding anything even close to 200 kilometers, I will construct a stage that may have a harder elevation profile – Planche des Belles Filles is no longer part of the official ‘Les 3 Ballons’ course, but I’m going to try and include it anyway 🙂