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Hello all,
A few days off at the end of the week, so thinking of riding this route.
Does anyone have any pointers or tips which might make things easier? Anyone keen to share any itineraries?
What to take? Should I rough camp or stay in huts?
Is the riding technical? Full Supension Orange Five or Carbon forked surly karate monkey?
Funny you should mention it, was thinking the same (been watching the weather for the past few weeks has been frustrating). May do the road version as I'd like to be back in Chamonix for Sunday's festival.
Clockwise and stay in huts (with ear plugs).
I did it anticlockwise and bivvied.
Made a wee vid of it too.
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I'd take the Five rather than the Karate Monkey. You'll enjoy the descents a lot more although the climbs will be harder!
Chamonix for Sunday's festival
Tell me more
Fete de la Musique.
Can't (quickly) find much info online, but posters with a programme are appearing around town.
Thanks, I may be there this weekend and have friends staying there so will tell them
Fete de la Musique isn't a festival as such, more a nation-wide celebration of the summer solstice. Licensing laws are relaxed (abandonned....) for the night and pretty much every bar has live music outside all night.
The TdMB can be done in a day (you can run it in 21hr after all) but you'd take a lot of shortcuts on road to do it. For reasonably fit riders 2 long days would be hard but doable. 3 days is not too fast but still not hanging about. Direction? Either way has + and -'s.
I'd take the 5 too.
It is possible to stick very close to the walking route, much more so than some of the routes guided parties take.
The single best tip though is to have look at the map and where possible take alternatives to the single track climbs that the walking route takes. Very often there will be a much more rideable double track ski road alternative.
There are advantages and disadvantages to both clock and anticlock. We went clockwise which has the benefit of being the opposite way to most walkers so they can see you coming and get out the way 😉 It also gave us some of the best descents ever but I can't speak for the opposite way.
Oh and Bovine is a bastard but unless anyone knows better you might as well suck it up and do it.
im doing my mate phils version of it in mid july 🙂
gunna film some of it too for a videoblog
Mid July it will be packed with walkers,there was a few up there on Sunday when I went up the col del la seigne, hope the weather is better as its been stormy for a week now.
Good news spin, the bovine climb's was re graded in 2013 and, whilst not fun, is now far far easier. To the extent it almost tips the balance in favour of anti clockwise.....but I'll stick wi both ways being equal.
Great info. Thanks.