As well as your bike and usual kit, the following items are essential if you plan
to spend a few days riding, especially if you want to do some longer rides and not
just stay nearer to Bourg D’Oisans:
- Front (optional) & rear light (required) for tunnels - the tunnels here can be up
to 750m long, and some are not very well lit - front lights are not required for
most tunnels but there are a few routes with unlit tunnels where you will definitely
need one!
- Waterproof / windproof jacket as well as the usual summer cycling gear (arm and leg
warmers too if you like to keep warm) as it can be more than 10 degrees colder at
the tops of the highest passes in the mountains.
- Warm jackets and full length tights, plus full length gloves if you are coming outside
of June - August. The weather can be warm in May and September (and often is!),
but as we are in the moutains cold weather can occasionally come along, especially
early in the mornings.
If you are hiring a bike rather than bringing your own, as well as the above you
may also want to consider:
- Spare inner tubes, multi-tool (you’ll typically just get one inner tube and tyre
levers with hire bikes)
- Your own pedals (hire bikes typically come with no pedals except some shops top of
the range hire bikes)
- Your own saddle (depending on how good you are at adapting to different saddles)
