Road cycling, riding its way to the top

Road cycling continues to grow in popularity, and this year is no exception.

It goes without saying that Annecy and the surrounding area offer the perfect mix of verdant mountain valleys, snow-capped peaks, and forests for cyclists to enjoy amazing rides with breathtaking views around every turn.

While a sport in the Summer Olympics since the first edition in Athens in 1896, only with the advent of professional races like the Tour de France or Giro d’Italia in the early 1900s did road cycling become a popular sport, especially with the “masses” (the latter term far too often used pejoritavely). The general view more or less stayed with cycling until just over a dozen years ago, when advances leading to the development of highly-specialized, high-performance equipment caught the attention of the next generation.

To promote cycling and share their passion, they created the Matchy Brigade in 2017, which offers enthusiasts from every walk of life the chance to meet up for guided rides on Wednesday evenings (40km to 50km) and Saturday mornings (70km to 90km), and for free when signing up through their website.

The idea is to organize friendly, leisurely outings to explore new routes and introduce riders to one another. The Matchy Cyclist Clubhouse in Annecy schedules the meet times.

Sign up for an outing

One of the area’s accessible rides that they highly recommend is a fifty kilometer loop around Lake Annecy via Col de Leschaux Pass, La Chapelle-Saint-Maurice, and Saint-Eustache, including an amazing descent with breathtaking views of the lake.

For outings during the summer months, when it is best to avoid riding on the bike path for safety reasons, Olivier shares a few of his favorite rides:

• Col de l’Arpettaz Pass (1581 m), at just over one hundred kilometers long with 1300 meters vertical gain, starts and ends in Veyrier-du-Lac. This little-known ride, even in summer, takes picturesque roads up tight switchbacks and down technical descents. A chalet-hut at the pass makes for a nice place to stop and take a break.
• For a shorter but more intense effort on almost-empty roads, this thirty kilometer ride with several 16%-grade climbs starts in Thônes, and takes you to Les Clefs, Plan Bois, and Manigod before making its way back to the starting point. Ride along alpine pastures, past farms, and through the beautiful countryside landscapes. Although very difficult, the route offers fantastic vistas of Manigod, La Tournette Peak, and the Aravis Mountains. Make sure you take a well-earned break at the Plan Bois Hut.