The Route des Grandes Alpes is a French invention of the early twentieth century, a line drawn from Lake Geneva to the Mediterranean to link the high passes, and at this point on it you are in the quiet southern part, Haute-Provence, where the Alps run out of height and begin to smell of thyme.
This corner of the Alps has its own character. Villages are built of pale stone with russet tiled roofs, lavender and sage run wild on south-facing slopes, and in summer the cicadas make a continuous rasping din. The little narrow-gauge railway from Nice to Digne, known as the Train des Pignes, threads the valleys here and is still worth a look for its viaducts and stations. Near Annot the rock turns to great sandstone boulders and rock corridors, a favourite with climbers, and the place feels oddly like a miniature Fontainebleau in the mountains.
The riding is wonderful: roads are narrow, quiet and generally well kept, with hairpins and long curves that follow the rivers up into the forests. Expect little traffic outside of summer holidays. Further north the great passes, such as Allos and Cayolle, rise well above two thousand metres, and are open only in summer, roughly June to October. Even here, though, you should be ready for rain on summer afternoons and cold air in the shade. Early autumn is clear and calm, and spring brings flowers but also rockfall and unreliable weather.
Fuel is the thing to plan. These are small places, with only a few pumps, and some close early or on Sundays, so top up whenever you pass a station. Annot, about fifteen kilometres away, has a handful of shops and cafes, and a stop for a coffee and a slice of tourte, the local savoury pie, never goes amiss. Carry water in summer, since the heat in the gorges can surprise you.