Gravel Getaway.

A 5 day gravel riding retraite, in Bourg Saint Maurice.

Provided by Alp & Bike // Peloton De Paris.

Exploring on your own can be massive fun, but participating in a 100% perfectly prepped guided 5-day graveltour, is pretty awesome as well. And easy, and fun, especially fun.

No looking for secret gems, small roads or hidden tracks. The guide knows it all, you just follow along and enjoy the incredible sceneries...

I had the pleasure of going on this trip together with my sporty friend in crime: Den Dimi. You could say he's a very well trained endurance athlete, with a special love for mountainbiking. So he's the skinny dude with the mountainbike on the pictures.

As for me, being a rookie when it comes to gravel, I was soon to find out that a 80k gravelride, is something completely different then your regular 80k on the road.

Climbing takes so much longer, and so do the descents. None the less, twice the fun.

Gravelriding is the trailrunning of cycling. It's more technical, but still fast, yet more easygoing, not a race mode. We always took our time to enjoy the views, none the less, when the climb began, we went all in:)

So, what about Peloton de Paris?

They're a beautifully curated cycling apparel brand, with great coffee. They've been around for a decade already, what makes them a very trustworthy brand, high level quality and just good fun when you visit one of there stores.

Sorry for the spam, but I'm a 'since day 1' fan.

Go and have a look, I think there's still a Gravel Sale going on as we speak. I would highly recommend the Atlas Gravel Shirt To ride or simply to wear on an every day basis.

It was a beautiful trip, with an incredible small group of likeminded people. We were all there to enjoy ourselves, on a bike, as a group. Competition was never present, but there still was a lot of sweat:)

Meet Stijn - our guide - the owner of Alp & Bike

It takes a lot of guts to follow your heart, but Stijn did it. He left lovely Flandres in 2020 to go and settle in Bourg Saint Maurice, family included. He wanted to follow his passion: the mountains and riding bikes. And he wanted to share that passion with 'others': Alp & Bike was born. Giving people the joy of riding the mountains, road or gravel, on a very sportive, easygoing way. No typical alphamale cockyness, no prizewinners, just glory searchers, wanting to spend some lovely days out.

Facts & figures

• REGION: Bourg Saint Maurice, France (near Les 3 Vallées, Les Arcs, Col de l'Iséran)

• HOTEL: Base Camp Lodge: affordable, bikewash, spacious, bike repair room.

• BIGGEST BURNER: Mur De Monal: 15,1%

• SECRET HOTSPOT: Les Lacets de la Combe. Known only by our guide...

• ROUTES: +- 60k / 1500m uphill a day. This takes you about 5h a day, lunch included

• PRICING: +- 640€ without transport

• PEAK: Le Quernoz, 2230m

Feel like takin' on the same trip:

Alp & Bike

Feel like buyin' the fancy stuff:

Peloton De Paris

Cheers guys,