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New bike holiday firm Total Cycling Holidays launch 2017 calendar

Accommodation in Alpe d'Huez means a tricky end to every ride... 20% off for road.cc readers!...

The nights are closing in and you're digging around in the back of the drawer for your tights and long-fingered gloves... yup, winter is on the way. It's generally pleasant at this time of year to distract yourself with thoughts of a sunny cycling trip next year, somewhere lovely. And we can help. Well, Total Cycling Holidays are the ones that can really help. But we can help by telling you. Oh, and offering you a chunky 20% discount. See the bottom of the story for details.

We were very impressed with the Total Cycling Holidays setup when we chatted to them at the Cycle Show at the NEC last month. And not just because they were handing out wine and snacks. Okay, partly that. But the holidays look great, too.

The company behind Total Cycling Holidays has its roots in skiing, and because of that they have a fair portfolio of property up in Alpe d'Huez. And because the skiing isn't great in July, they've decided to set up some cycling holidays over the summer: sensible enough.

What do you know, there's some pretty special riding in the area. Not least the 21 hairpins back up to the Alpe which, if the fancy takes you, you can attempt on three of the five riding days in the signature Coffee, Cake and Craic tour that runs weekly from 26 May to mid-September. If you don't fancy it every day – and there's some big rides in the week – then they'll pick you up at the bottom.

As well as the Alpe you'll also be tackling the Col du Glandon, Col de la Croix de Fer, Col de la Sarenne, Col d'Ornon, Col de la Morte, Les Deux Alpes and more in nearly 500km of riding over five days, with over 10,000m of climbing thrown in to keep it interesting.

The cost for this eight day, seven night trip is £1,475. That doesn't seem too bad as a headline price, but it's what you get as standard that makes it look like really good value. Flights are included, as is carriage of your bike, as are transfers to Alpe d'Huez. The price is based on single occupancy so there's no single supplement. All meals are included, all rides are fully supported and you even get three sports massages during the week as part of the basic price. Aside from buying a few beers and coffees, it looks like you'll be hard pressed to spend anything while you're out in France.

As well as the five-day tour there's a Marmotte package (excluding entry to the event), a four-night slimmed down 'Espresso' version of the five-dayer with three rides, triathlon, women-only trips and more.

20% off with road.cc until the end of October – call 01483 79 11 88 to book

You can get 20% off the price of the Coffee, Cakes and Craic trip with road.cc until the end of October – our back-of-the-fag-packet calculation suggests that's just £1,180, all in. Not bad eh? Online booking isn't available yet but you can call Total Cycling Holidays on 01483 79 11 88 and quote the code ROADCC16 to get your discount. Happy alp-bagging!

www.totalcyclingholidays.co.uk

Dave is a founding father of road.cc, having previously worked on Cycling Plus and What Mountain Bike magazines back in the day. He also writes about e-bikes for our sister publication ebiketips. He's won three mountain bike bog snorkelling World Championships, and races at the back of the third cats.

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6 comments

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skaterboy | 7 years ago
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So, for a commercial operation, does the named climbs and lodging represent good value?

I've not cycled the alps, so am sort of interested.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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gbzpto | 7 years ago
1 like

Or stay in Bourg d’Oisans at the bottom of the climb. All rides end downhill and the town has much more life than Alpe d'Huez

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Dnnnnnn replied to gbzpto | 7 years ago
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gbzpto wrote:

Or stay in Bourg d’Oisans at the bottom of the climb. All rides end downhill and the town has much more life than Alpe d'Huez

And the shops probably don't try to charge you €4.40 for a can of pop and a Twix.

I must have been delirious when I handed that over...

Avatar
John G | 7 years ago
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... or save about £1000 and do it yourself. I've organised tours for club colleagues for the last few years to both the Alps and Pyrenees, this year's trip was £475 / person for a party of 8 which included:

  • hired van from Cheshire to the Alps to transport bikes, luggage, etc.
  • all insurances for the van, including European breakdown cover
  • Eurotunnel for the van
  • all diesel for the van
  • all motorway tolls for the van
  • 2 hotel stops for the outward and return drive
  • 6 easyJet flights from Manchester to Geneva
  • 2 hire cars for travel from Geneva to our accommodation
  • all fuel and motorway toll costs for both cars
  • 7 nights accommodation in 2 static caravans on a campsite at the foot of the Col de Madeleine (Col du Glandon was on the opposite sitde of the valley)
  • domestic consumables for the caravans (teabags, loo rolls, beer stubbies, milk, washing-up liquid, etc., etc.)
  • 6 days riding ... in no particular order: Madeleine, Saisies, Iseran, Telegraphe, Galibier, Croix de Fer, Mollard, La Tousuierre, Grand Cucheron, Glandon, Lacets du Montvernier / Chaussey ...

The £475 didn't include:

  • profit
  • food
  • refreshments

 

Avatar
Leviathan | 7 years ago
1 like

Book now before the arse falls out of the pound. #ThanksBrexit

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echo17 replied to Leviathan | 7 years ago
0 likes

Think we have just passed that  2

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