In 2017 I went to cross the Pyrenees from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic. This all-road bike trip was organized by Endurofun.be.
The bike I used was the Aprilia Caponord 1000. This bike went to Morocco the year before and was well suited for a European adventure. Unfortunately, the rear shock leaked all it’s oil somewhere in the first bits of the Pyrenees, making the rest extra challenging since there was no dampening. The bike was acting like a rocking horse ;).
En route to the Pyrenees, I went to ride a few days around Salbertrand in Italy. There are many nice off-road sections suited for big bikes in that area.
Pictures
The pictures from the Pyrenees
And the pictures from the Alps:
The route
The first leg of the trip was by car to camping Gran Bosco in Italy. There we took some of the ‘classics’ including
- Col de Sommeiler: highest motorable road in the Alps (?). A nice ride to 3000m and back again. This is also the road used in the yearly Stella Alpina event
- Jafferau: a pretty rough off-road track to one of the forts that used to defend Italy. We also stumbled on the Pramand fort. Went down on the other side where you have to drive between the ski lifts of the Bardonecchia ski-resort.
- Colle delle Finestre & Assietta: gravel highways in the Italian alps
- Col de la Bonette & Col de Galibier: nice tarmac roads that are so much fun to drive.
The track in the Pyrenees is courtesy of Endurofun.be and contained a lot of suprising and beautiful sections.
