I’m planning a trip to Annecy, France in September and I’m looking for a good shop to rent a road bike. Any recommendations on shops or routes would be much appreciated.
Thanks
Jackpot. One of the most beautiful towns in France. And you are very close to a sled-load of Tour climbs. A guy made a pretty good map here to get you started. Don’t know anything about bike shops, but Google ‘Annecy bicycle rental’ and a few come up.
I was just there. Couple suggestions:
Bike path to Albertville - flat and easy
Loop the lake counterclockwise via Montmin and the Col de la Forclaz. It’s a nasty little climb, but decent.
Semnoz - there’s a couple of routes, I took the most direct right from the edge of town.
N, NW, and NE of Annecy - Loads of quietish country rounds with rolling hills. You can create an infinite number of routes.
Col de la Grand Colombier - about 35km to the west the start of any of the routes is tough, with long stretches of 10%, but it’s almost traffic free and the view at the top is one of the best. You can see Lac du Bourget, Annecy and even Mont Blanc and Geneva off in the distance. If you ride from Annecy take the Val-de-Fier, a tight gorge, ascend from Anglefort and descend into Culoz.
Around Lac Leman (Lake Geneva). Mostly flat, but mostly on dedicated bike paths… it’s a solid 200km. Never done it, but had it recommended to me for a great ride.
Within about an hours drive you can hit dozens of famous climbs…
Thanks Brian for the info. Definitely lots of options in the area. So far I’ve found only one shop that rents road bikes. Provelo - Technologies & Tradition. All other shops so far only rent mountain or cruiser type bikes.
Thanks for your feedback. I will most likely take one of the Semnoz loops on Saturday and possibly the loop around Lake Annecy on Sunday.