Thursday, July 16th, 2009
Bienvenue vers la France! Upon arriving at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris, you'll have just enough time to break out your English-to-French dictionary and buy a beret before catching your connecting flight to Geneva, Switzerland. Please make sure you arrive between 10 AM and 2 PM in Geneva, Switzerland (airport code GVA) so you can transfer on one of EuroCycler's shuttles.
Our hostess will be waiting to escort you to our motor coach for transfer to the hotel in at the Lake of Annecy, about 70 miles south of Geneva. The charming village is in the foothills of the French Alps. Once you arrive at the hotel, our mechanics will immediately fit your bicycle so you can loosen up your legs with a quick spin in the area. Otherwise you can just relax by in the hotel garden and take a swim in the lake - refreshing! Then, over a sumptuous meal, you'll meet your fellow travelers and raise a collective toast to the exciting adventures to come. For hotel info and tourist program click here.

Friday, July 17th, 2009
The EuroCycler fun starts again. This is the day that you'll find out there's a price to be paid for those magnificent mountain views you've been enjoying from your hotel room. Because our home base is encircled by mountains, there's no avoiding the inclusion of a couple climbs on our debut route. But it's great preparation for the ascents still to come. And the spectacular views from the summit will offer more than ample reward for your efforts.

We'll begin our group rides from the hotel with group coaching, following the flat road along the lake which is part of the Thursday time trial and continue through picturesque French villages and past stunning overlooks in the nearby hills. Then, we head up into the foothills, and ride part of the Tour de Semnoz. Throughout the climbs and descents, your Ride Group Leader will offer helpful advice for conquering those sustained Alpine ascents. Be sure to listen carefully. Out on the formidable switchbacks of Madeleine, Roselend or Alp d'Huez, which you'll be tackling in just a few short days, you'll be putting every tip to use. We'll have a delicious picnic lunch followed by more riding. By dusk, you'll be more than ready for an evening group dinner.

Saturday, July 18th, 2009
A convenient start from the hotel again, but it's uphill from here on. The shortest option today is 30 miles or 50 km, with 600 meters (1,800 feet) of climbing. At a good clip, that is done in under two hours, but you can also take it easier. But we recommend the long version and take it a bit gentler which adds another 670 vertical meters (2,000 feet) over 32 km (20 miles). That will be an extra two hour of riding. If you feel like you need more climbing and the coaching team concurs, we'll guide you up some extra climbs that can average over 12%, conveniently located right behind the hotel - but we don't recommend it. It's a nice surprise on the way home, not long, but steep enough that might make you walk uphill: Col de la Croix which was part of the 2004 edition of the Big Race. But listen to your body and trust our guidance, we have quite some stories from previous Forclaz attempts. Dinner on your own.

Sunday, July 19th, 2009
With Col de La Madeleine today and what you have done the day before you now qualify for serious bicycling - and of course serious fun too. First we ride half an hour on flat roads towards the climb, then hit the 19 km (12 miles) ascent which we expect to do in something under two hours. Lunch on top, followed by a 30 minutes very fast descent, a few minutes roll-out in the next valley and we have logged 65 km (40 miles) in somewhere around three and a half hours ride time. That makes another 5,000 spectacular feet of cycling. Evening group dinner.

Monday, July 20st, 2009
While the peleton enjoys a rest day, we continue our rides in the Alps and we get more serious every day. We all know, Alp d'Huez earned its reputation as one of bicycling's most merciless climbs for a reason. That will just give you all the more satisfaction for having conquered it. And conquer it you shall, with the encouragement, support and, if necessary pushing, of our supremely gifted Ride Leaders. To make a mole hill out of this mountain, we offer two plans of attack. We'll offer our riders the opportunity to climb Alp d'Huez in proven EuroCycler fashion, beginning in La Mure and ride across the less challenging Col d'Ornon first. After a light lunch on Col d'Ornon, (please eat light, you have a massive climb that does not coordinate well with digestion of a large lunch) we descend to Bourg-d'Oisans. From there, we'll ascend up the 21, storied switchbacks of the Alp d'Huez and compare our times to Marco Pantani's record of 36 minutes 50 seconds. Well, a comparison might be a little hopeful! More appropriate is probably the EuroCycler guest record which was set in 2007 by Paul from San Francisco and stands at 55 Minutes and 20 Seconds.

The regular ride with these two climbs totals 5,500 vertical feet and includes the 21 switchbacks up to Huez. That is over 60 km (38 Miles). If you want more, an earlier ride start comes to 90 km (57 miles) and takes a total ride time of 4.5 hrs. The climb up Alpe d'Huez alone is 13 km (8 miles) and for this portion you should calculate between 60 and 100 minutes. Dinner on your own.

Tuesday, July 21st, 2009
We'll start the day with a short motorcoach ride to Albertville, where we'll unload and warm up with a few miles. Albertville hosted the 1996 winter Olympics. Does that sound like mountains? We'll climb the scenic Cormet de Roselend where we have the support van with lunch at the summit of the 25-mile ride. The actual climb will be 20 km, or 12.5 miles, and you will be hurting with the 6% gradient. But don't worry, you are not alone. All the Tour de France racers were hurting, we saw their faces. Then we descend to Bourg St. Maurice to the stage finish to watch the race. The peleton will have mastered a super-stage with the big the the small St. Bernard passes in Switzerland and Italy. Our ride is actually quite challenging, and we will offer a recovery ride around the lake if you feel like it. You will realize that you rode a hard program already and a gentle ride around Lake Annecy can do you good. We stop in a nice garden restaurant lounge around and just chat about cycling and other interesting stuff. Colin Lewis, a former Tour de France participant will have many stories to share with you and can enjoy his anecdotes from Inside the Peleton. The ride is all flat, 38 km, 24 miles. Don't feel bad about such a short ride, believe us, every cyclist needs that. Dinner on your own.

Wednesday, July 22nd, 2009
Today is big time Tour show. The peleton has six climbs to conquer and we will be part of it. We shuttle to a drop-off point outside Albertville and pick up the race course in the Beaufort area, from where we climb Col de Saisies, in front of cheering spectators, chased by the peleton. On top of the climb our support van and staff will expect you for a nice pick-nick from a fabulous vantage point and you can enjoy the pageantry of the passing peleton. The photo on the right shows one of our original pictures from 2004, a pair of riders that we will not see in France again. However, maybe one of the two shows up in 2009 - and you can be part of it. Here you can find more such impressions of past France Cycling Experiences with EuroCycler. Evening group dinner.

Thursday, July 23rd, 2009
This is the day we have all been waiting for. An individual time trial around Lake d'Annecy. A special day for everyone. For the riders because they are out on their own, and for you because you can enjoy the show from a lounge chair and cheer oneach rider one by one. The roads in the area will be blocked and access is very difficult, but since we stay in the middle of the action, that's not an issue for us - this time the Tour is coming to our location. If you really feel for an early morning ride, we guide you from Talloires up to Col de la Forclaz, a mountain pass overlooking the Lake of Annecy. As nice as the view is from up there, as hard that short ride will be. Actually, it's really tough. With or without this ride, watching the time trial will be the highlight of the week. This is the last day of our trip and for the evening we have surprise farewell dinner at a restaurant that we don't reveal until you get there.

Friday, July 24rd, 2009
One option today is return travel to Geneva airport. Perhaps you'll have your own program for a few additional days in Europe for which we'll happily make a few suggestions for France, Switzerland or any other country in Europe. We can give you ideas for every taste and budget.

But most of you will probably want to relocate to Paris enjoy the city of lights and explore the Paris nightlife, and you can sleep in the next day if you wish. In any case, we will assist your with your travel planning to the next destination and support you with a complementary trip for you to include the exclusive EuroCycler Grand Finale Lunch Party at Fouquet's in Paris to watch the arrival of the Tour. Review additional travel tips and ideas for Paris.

2009 Alps Package, Hotels and the Tourist Program

Annecy and its Lake
For the Alps portion of the 2009 EuroCycler trip we have selected a region that is classed as one of the most beautiful in France: Lac d' Annecy. The man who quoted that was no less than Winston Churchill. We will be located right at the lake shore of Lake d' Annecy and offer two hotels for different budgets.

This beautiful turquoise lake, set in the lower French Alps, is as perfect for swimming in, cycling around and boating across, as it is for circling over like an eagle after you launch yourself from a small wooden platform 2,000 meters up wearing a parasail.

We'll spend all nights in the same place at the same hotel which makes is very convenient for you. Number one you don't need to pack and re-pack and number two you can have enough time to explore the nice restaurants and enjoy the lake shore scenery. And if you want to explore more, the town of Annecy can be reached by boat and is known as France's closest approximation to Venice, criss-crossed as it is with canals.

Our Hotels at Lake Annecy and in Paris
We have two hotel options for you available, a higher priced hotel which is a superb 4 Star Hotel in an authentic Mediaeval French historic building with all modern amenities, direct lake access, full spa facilities for all sorts or relaxing beauty treatment and a fantastic restaurant. Five hundred meters away you can enjoy a lower budget hotel in a very charming French chalet style, 3 Stars. Both hotels are well known to former EuroCycler guests and one American couple has even chosen the first hotel for their wedding after their 2005 EuroCycler trip. Please contact us if you have specific questions about the hotels since they are closed during the winter season.

In Paris we suggest to stay at the hotel St. Petersbourg which is conveniently located three minutes from the Opera with all the fabulous shopping that surrounds it. The city airport stop with shuttles to the Charles-de-Gaulle airport is within two minutes walking distance from the hotel.

Below are some options for the Tourist program, whereby some dates are relatively flexible and we are always happy to add another day program upon specific requests.

While we'll be getting the riding contingent of our group acquainted with some of France's magnificent cycling, we'll be getting you acquainted with the Savoie region's abundance of historic sights, Annecy's sophisticated shopping and food (for everyone - the arrival of the racers will be coming soon.) Our tourist group hostess will lay out a variety of options for the group to choose from.

The incomparable beauty of Annecy takes more than just a day to take in. It's one of the most beautiful and popular resort towns of the French Alps. Nestled along a turquoise alpine lake, Annecy has more outdoor restaurants and cafés overlooking the Fier River than you could possibly sample. An 11th century castle houses the art and relic collections of the Musée du Château. You can wander the medieval streets to the picture-perfect Palais de l'Isle, a tiny 12th century fort which served in turn as palace, mint, court and prison (the latter as late as WWII), and now holds the Musée de l'Histoire d'Annecy. Not least, shopping in Annecy is a delight.

This lake is known as the Alpine lake with the cleanest and clearest water of all mountain lakes, and of course it is fed by the surrounding glaciers. The program calls for a boat tour on the lake and later a paraponte over the lake, starting from the top of Col de la Forclaz. If you have the nerves, you can jump off the ramp strapped into a parachute twin-harness with a guide on your back to bring you to the Lake Shore safely with thousands of butterflies in your stomach.

Chambery, Grenoble, Annecy, Lyon, and Geneva in Switzerland are the major cities in the area, each with its own charm, and each with plenty of shopping opportunities. At this point you will have a good feel of what will make your France experience complete and we are happy to consider additional ideas. In any case, options are available, it's just a question of how much can you absorb.

We'll drive you to a small, charming village in the middle of the French Alps, embedded in a narrow valley with massive mountains on either side. There you you'll have a chance to mingle with other race fans. This is your chance to can chalk up encouraging messages to your favorite racers on the road. You can jockey for the free goodies thrown out when the colorful floats of the commercial caravan pass by.

Finally, you'll need to choose your viewpoint for your first look at the peleton: this side of the road or that? Down a few hundred feet or at the bend in the road? Perhaps they don't seem like big questions now, but there is an art to choosing the very best spot.

Or, if the group of tourists and non-riders of the day decide to go to lounge by the hotel pool or come up with their own agenda of the day, our dedicated tourist guide has will be happy to arrange your special trip of the day. There are plenty of chateaux, vignards and mountain cheese farms in the area to visit.

Suggestion Six: Meet the riding guest in Bourg-d'Oisans and on Alpe d'Huez