CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
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Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
From Bourgoin-Jallieu it runs 1051 km to Montluel; allow about 17 h 13 of riding. It goes by way of near Artemare, Scenic stretch near Beaujeu and Ambierle. The climbs: near Péronnas and near Bourgoin-Jallieu. The line favours views over speed.
Bourgoin-Jallieu is the main town of Nord-Isère, a working place on the old road from Lyon to Chambéry and Grenoble, and it makes a good, unfussy start to a ride. The two old villages of Bourgoin and Jallieu grew together in the nineteenth century around textile mills, and printing on cloth was the town's speciality. The museum in the centre has collections on the history of textile printing, and you can still see old mill buildings along the Bourbre river.
Read the complete Fuel stop in Bourgoin-Jallieu write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Isère Valley and Belledonne is where the day begins. Next is Food stop near Artemare.
Artemare is a small town in the Valromey, a valley in the Bugey, at the foot of the Grand Colombier, the highest summit at the southern end of the Jura. The town sits where the Séran river emerges from its valley, and the landscape around it is a mix of meadows, forests, limestone cliffs and small villages. Just to the north, the Cascade de Cerveyrieu drops in a spectacular fall over a limestone ledge, especially impressive after rain.
Read the complete Food stop near Artemare write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Food stop near Artemare is where this day stops to eat. Next is High point near Péronnas.
Péronnas is a suburb on the southern edge of Bourg-en-Bresse, and the high ground near it is little more than a gentle swell where three landscapes meet. North and west lies the Bresse, flat and green; south, the Dombes begins, with its ponds and woods; and east, the abrupt wooded wall of the Revermont rises out of the plain like the edge of a stage set. On a clear day the snowy Alps sometimes appear far beyond, an unexpected bonus.
Read the complete High point near Péronnas write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
This is where the road stops climbing. Next is Scenic stretch near Beaujeu.
Beaujeu gave its name to the Beaujolais. The lords of Beaujeu ruled this land of hills and vineyards in the Middle Ages, and the little town in the valley of the Ardières remained its capital until the role passed to Villefranche. Today it is a quiet place, with a Romanesque church, old houses and a hospice with a fine collection of pharmacy jars, and it takes great pride in its wine. Every November, the release of Beaujolais Nouveau is celebrated here with festivities that draw crowds.
Read the complete Scenic stretch near Beaujeu write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Scenic stretch near Beaujeu, early in the day. Next is Lyon / Rhône-Alpes rides return.
The Côte Roannaise is a long east-facing slope where the Monts de la Madeleine drop towards the Loire plain, and Ambierle sits high on it, with vineyards falling away below and the forested hills at its back. On a clear morning you can see across the plain to the Monts du Lyonnais and beyond. This stop is down on the edge of that slope, between Ambierle and Renaison, at the point where the vines give way to meadows and hedges.
Read the complete Near Ambierle, on the way back write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Lyon / Rhône-Alpes rides return sits at 252 km, early in the day. Next is Photo stop near Sury-le-Comtal.
Sury-le-Comtal sits on the flat floor of the Forez plain, the broad basin of the Loire between the Monts du Forez and the Monts du Lyonnais. It is a small town with a big secret: its château, outwardly modest, holds some of the most remarkable seventeenth-century carved wooden interiors in France, with ceilings, panels and fireplaces carved in exuberant detail. Guided visits are possible on certain days.
Read the complete Photo stop near Sury-le-Comtal write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Photo stop near Sury-le-Comtal comes up 315 km in. Next is Isère Valley and Belledonne checkpoint 8.
Neuville-sur-Saône sits in a bend of the river just north of Lyon, and this stop is up on the plateau east of it, between Montanay and Cailloux-sur-Fontaines. The land here is open farmland and new housing, a transition zone where the city thins out and the Dombes begins. It is not the place for scenery, but it is a sensible finish: close to the motorways, with easy access back into Lyon or out towards the Ain.
Read the complete Near Neuville-sur-Saône write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Isère Valley and Belledonne checkpoint 8 closes the day. Next is Back to Isère Valley.
Bourgoin-Jallieu and Domarin lie in the Nord-Isère, the broad rolling country between Lyon and Grenoble known as the Bas-Dauphiné, where the landscape is of low hills, maize fields, ponds and small woods. It is an unglamorous corner, a place that most people see only from the motorway, but it has its own quiet pleasures. Bourgoin-Jallieu is a town of about twenty-three thousand that grew rich on textile printing, and old mills and workers' housing still line some of its streets.
Read the complete Isère Valley write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Finish at Back to Isère Valley. That is the ride. Next is Beaujolais Dawn Sweep.
Montluel is the kind of small French town that most people only see as a sign on the A42, which is a shame. It climbs a slope above the little River Sereine, on the escarpment that the locals call the Côtière, the step where the Rhône plain to the south rises up onto the plateau of the Dombes. For centuries this was border country: Montluel belonged to the House of Savoy and only became French with the Treaty of Lyon in 1601, and the old centre still has the narrow, defensive feel of a frontier town.
The Haut Beaujolais is not the Beaujolais most people imagine. North-west of Beaujeu the vineyards run out and the hills rise into forest, dark Douglas fir plantations, beech woods, steep pastures with Charolais cattle grazing on them. This stop sits in that upland country between Beaujeu and Matour, where the roads loop over ridges and down into narrow valleys with small farming villages.
Read the complete Near Beaujeu, on the way back write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Lyon / Rhône-Alpes rides return comes up 568 km in. Next is Food stop in Balbigny.
Balbigny is a small town on the Loire, at the northern end of the Forez plain, where the river leaves the open basin and enters the hills towards Roanne. It is a crossroads: the A89 and A72 motorways meet nearby, and old roads from Lyon to Clermont-Ferrand and from Saint-Étienne to Roanne pass through. For riders, it is a practical stop for fuel and food on the way across the region.
Read the complete Food stop in Balbigny write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
A break here. Next is Photo stop near Pélussin.
Pélussin sits on the eastern flank of the Massif du Pilat, high above the Rhône valley south of Vienne. The town is spread across a sunny slope, among orchards, vineyards and meadows, and from its terraces you look down on the river and across to the hills of the Dauphiné, with the Alps on the far horizon on clear days.
Read the complete Photo stop near Pélussin write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Photo stop near Pélussin, late in the day. Next is Beaujolais Dawn Sweep checkpoint 8.
South of Lyon, the Rhône broadens into a powerful, heavily engineered river, lined with locks, power stations and chemical plants on the east bank. The west bank, where around Irigny, Charly and Vernaison, is softer: a strip of villages, orchards and market gardens rising gently towards the Monts du Lyonnais. Rides begin and end here for a simple reason: it sits outside the congested core of the city but within easy reach of it.
Read the complete Near Irigny write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Beaujolais Dawn Sweep checkpoint 8 closes the day. Next is High point near Bourgoin-Jallieu.
South and west of Bourgoin-Jallieu, the flat valley of the Bourbre gives way to a tangle of low hills, and these are the high points of the Bas-Dauphiné: rounded ridges, small woods of oak and chestnut, walnut orchards and farms with pebble walls. Further south they become the Terres Froides, the cold lands, a name that sounds harsh until you ride there in June and find nothing colder than a breeze across the hay meadows.
Read the complete High point near Bourgoin-Jallieu write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The high point of this section. Next is Scenic stretch near Tignieu.
Tignieu-Jameyzieu sits on the plain between Lyon's eastern sprawl and the Rhône, where commuter villages have spread over old farmland and gravel terraces. It is not a destination in itself, but a few minutes north-east the scenery changes sharply. The Isle Crémieu, a limestone plateau bounded on three sides by the Rhône, rises above the plain, with cliffs, oak woods, dry meadows, small lakes and villages built of pale stone.
Read the complete Scenic stretch near Tignieu write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
883 km in you reach Scenic stretch near Tignieu. Next is Back to Beaujolais Dawn.
Dagneux and Béligneux are villages on the plateau north-east of Lyon, called the Côtière, a long terrace above the Rhône valley where the land breaks away in a steep slope toward the river. From the edge of the escarpment, the view stretches over the plain and, on a clear day, to the Alps on the horizon. The dot sits above the Rhône, at the edge of the Dombes, a country of ponds and woods that begins just to the north.
Read the complete Beaujolais Dawn write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back to Beaujolais Dawn closes the day.
Fuel stop in Bourgoin-Jallieu → Food stop near Artemare is 69 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Food stop near Artemare → High point near Péronnas is 60 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
High point near Péronnas → Scenic stretch near Beaujeu is 62 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Scenic stretch near Beaujeu → Near Ambierle, on the way back is 76 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Photo stop near Sury-le-Comtal → Near Neuville-sur-Saône is 94 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Back to Isère Valley → Fuel stop near Montluel is 51 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Fuel stop near Montluel → Near Beaujeu, on the way back is 68 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Food stop in Balbigny → Photo stop near Pélussin is 75 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Photo stop near Pélussin → Near Irigny is 39 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
High point near Bourgoin-Jallieu → Scenic stretch near Tignieu is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Scenic stretch near Tignieu → Back to Beaujolais Dawn is 33 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.