Cyclopaat, an alter ego with a twist
The (Lepape) Marmotte Alpes is another Granfondo on many cyclists’ bucket list. I am one of them and I cycled it all by myself in 2021.
Isère is a department in the southeastern French region of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. It’s named after the Isère river and its prefecture is Grenoble.
It borders the departments of the Rhône to the northwest, Ain to the north, Savoie to the east and Hautes-Alpes to the south.
An ongoing display of “Too much time on my hands” and “I have no life”…
I have added pages for my favorite Granfondos – I know you love it 😂
They are: the Maratona dles Dolomites, the Marmotte Alpes and the Sella Ronda Bike Day.
Yes, I could have spared myself the effort of creating a page for the latter, as it is part of the long version of the Maratona.
Did you not understand the first sentence of this post?
Yes, I did use that title before – thank you for so closely following / reading my blog 😂
However, at the time I spoke about my plans to do two of them, Sestriere (La Marmotta) and the classic Marmotte Alpes during that Tour de France of 2017.
Both were a bust, whereas I didn’t even start the classic, due to the short days and weather conditions, and had a flat with no spare tube(s) during the La Marmotta.
This year, being located at an even better spot to start it, I finally did ride the Marmotte Alpes, but with a twist…
Exploring the climbs and passes for my Tour de France 2021, I’ve started with those in and close to our base camp, Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne.
In my two previous posts, I’ve covered the possibilities a bit further away, not requiring a car transfer before getting on my bike.
Today’s post concentrates on climbs which do need a car transfer into a neighbouring region.
So, thanks to the ongoing pandemic and subsequent “no fly” policy in the family, I got another cycling adventure this year.
As we were going to France, I have obviously and as usual dubbed it “Tour de France 2021”.
While I did feel sorry for Paula’s not getting her well deserved sun vacation, I was also excited at the prospect of having another go at the giants of the French Alps.
