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Doing the mega this year, race booked, accommodation and flights booked.
Long story short me and a mate are flying to Geneva and it is damn near impossible to get over to Alpe D-huez on a cost effective transfer.
Looked at shuttle buses which are non-existent this time of year, no trains go anywhere near, enquired with a guy with a trailer and he wants 2,000 euros return but can take I think 6 so if anybody else is flying in on Mon 3rd July and back on the Mon 10th July could be of interest to discuss lift sharing.
Looked at car/van hire which is also silly money around 800 - 1,000 euros for the week for something able to take 2 bike bags and luggage. Also considered driving it to Alpe D'huez and returning it there, same with return because we are not likely to use the vehicle during the week but nobody offers this service.
So basically at the moment we are stuck without paying through the nose.
Anybody got any experience and advice on this, contacts they have used previously or interested in lift sharing?
Hmm 211km, quite a way. Fancy extending your holiday and riding there on a DH bike over a few days... nope !
Drive? Going to AdH on 22 June. 3 of us w bikes. Tunnel is 200£, Tolls 100, diesel 250ish. 200ish each is cheaper than flying. Its a long day of driving, but split 3 ways survivable. We are 90mins from the tunnel which might make it easier, obvs depending on your start point.
Also no need to waste half a day reassembling bikes, and more spares than necessary in the boot
we drove last year, as it was easier.
Sounds like you have looked at most of the avenues... so i dont think i can add anything to help!
The Mega is a good crack (assuming you havent done it before) so enjoy!
As others said, looks like youve looked at most angles.
One year drove all the way there and back in a transit van (4 of us did it). Other year flew to Geneva and hired a car and made a small holiday out of it with the wife.
I preferred the fly to Geneva route, less tiring than the drive (from Scotland)
Any trains that will get you much closer then you could ride over? Or get you closer and make other transport a bit cheaper?
i have previously flown Stansted to Grenoble
then got the bus
but not sure that flight runs now?
can u ask about a car share of the megavalanche Facebook page ?
Slim chance but Dudley used to do the Mega most years driving a bus down from near Brighton - his email is in the contact page.
Yeah, we drove last year. 20 hours from N.Wales to ADH. Did it in a oner and a couple of cans of Red Bull. Did 10 days over there, drove, petrol, ferries, food, beer, accomodation, cost about £1100/each for the three of us all-in (excluding the Mega passes).
Loved it. I was crap, but I beat my mates despite breaking two ribs practicing for quali.
BTW - Quali is the real race. The race is just a bloody good long ride. Make sure you practice both courses at least once 🙂
You can get a train to Grenoble. Possible bus or taxi from there.
Swiss trains are OK with bikes. Don't know about French Regional.
https://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/dn?start=1&existOptimizePrice=1&REQ0JourneyStopsS0A=1&S=Gen%C3%A8ve-A%C3%A9roport&REQ0JourneyStopsSID=A%3D1%40O%3DGen%C3%A8ve-A%C3%A9roport%40X%3D6111982%40Y%3D46232538%40U%3D80%40L%3D008501026%40B%3D1%40p%3D1684956493%40&REQ0JourneyStopsZ0A=1&Z=Grenoble&REQ0JourneyStopsZID=A%3D1%40O%3DGrenoble%40X%3D5714164%40Y%3D45191183%40U%3D80%40L%3D008700034%40B%3D1%40p%3D1685992515%40&date=Mo.%2C+03.07.2023&time=14%3A00×el=depart&returnDate=&returnTime=&auskunft_travelers_number=1&tariffTravellerType.1=E&tariffTravellerReductionClass.1=0&tariffClass=2&optimize=0&externRequest=yes&HWAI=JS%21js%3Dyes%21ajax%3Dyes%21#hfsseq1|an.01164060.1686230732
Flying to Lyon would be way easier than Geneva... few mountains in the way coming from Geneva.... From Lyon you attack the right valley from the plain so to speak....
Flying to Grenoble is ski-season only (or was..not sure now).
From Lyon (or Geneva): train to Grenoble then bus.
(sitting at home just north of Grenoble with my transporter sitting 200m away)
It's a long way from Geneva, and quite slow going, if I recall. We've driven before and, on one instance, picked up a mate from Grenoble on the way, which is significantly closer.
No chance of cancelling the flights and driving? It's a long drag but has the benefit of taking tools/spares, just incase.
As others have said, train to/from Grenoble and then a taxi/transfer. Worth contacting the tourism office.
Bikes are fine on regional trains in France, and *some* inter cities with a booking. All French trains, including TGVS are ok with bikes in bags.
Like others we drove down, from Edinburgh in one go with a rest on the ferry. It sucked, but flying sucks too and at least it was done and we could take a ton of crap with us.
(unasked for, but re the actual quali and race, don't just follow the obvious lines if posisble in practice- it's bloody hard to overtake, but the quali especially has some bits in the rocks where you can legitimately cut big loops out witht he steeper lines and pass a load of people. Look for lines over rocks in the S bends basically. But even planning for that, I was still pretty surprised by just how slow progress was in some bits. Like, the higher singletrack on the main race was a crawl, people were tired after the glacier, then you're in a queue so you can get into queueing headspace not riding headspace, but even the absolute crappest lines can be faster than the best ones if there's someone stuck on the best lines). I was in a sort of weird place in the race because I was unfit after an injury, but better than most riders at the same pace, so it was frustrating but at the same time pretty hilarious to just make up lines on the fly and hope I didn't just end up in a hole or riding off a cliff or something)
@ Fossy sure is quite a way, maybe it would be doable on an ebike with 5 batteries but think I would need to tow my luggage
All French trains, including TGVS are ok with bikes in bags.
There have been cases of pro riders getting fines on TGVs for carrying bikes in bags and boxes over 1m30 in length. It seems to be a case of jobsworth guards misinterpreting the baggage rules, but be wary because the fines are 150€ on the spot plus 50€ admin
There have been cases of pro riders getting fines on TGVs for carrying bikes in bags and boxes over 1m30 in length.
That’s very strange, because luggage up to 2 metres is fine according to the SNCF.
I’ve also taken my bike in a bag on a TGV with no problem at all.
I've driven it straight through, about 15 hours from Bristol IIRC.
As I said it happens, @kramer a jobsworth interpreting the rules as they see fit.
Here's
another example from last month.
It may not happen every day, but it's concerning that the controller has the last word onboard their little rolling empire.
Thanks for the all the comments and suggestions, I can't reply to them all individually but will try to summarise.
I'm in NW England so 15 hour drive from here, mate has a van and we considered but didn't fancy the drive back plus insurance issues to share the driving. I need to be somewhere the following day and didn't want to be half dead (although I might be regardless).
Flights are booked with sleezy jet so unlikely to get any kind of refund, previously looked at flying to Lyon but no direct flight, you had to change at CDG which I didn't fancy, no flights into Grenoble from UK this time of year.
Was just weighing up the train tonight to Grenoble and bus to ADH but looks like we may miss the last bus so would need to stay over in Grenoble, all this is total sh*te.
Now back to hire cars, mate found a people carrier for 700 euros so at present it looks like we may go for that.
It is the first (and probably last) time doing the mega and one that is on the bucket list but looking forward to the experience. There are probably 2,000 riders I suspect for the analog and ebike races so it seems strange there is no shuttle bus from Geneva or assistance of any kind to get people there.