New bike holiday firm Total Cycling Holidays launch 2017 calendar

The nights are closing in and you're digging around in the back of the drawer for your tights and long-fingered gloves... yup, winter is on the way. It's generally pleasant at this time of year to distract yourself with thoughts of a sunny cycling trip next year, somewhere lovely. And we can help. Well, Total Cycling Holidays are the ones that can really help. But we can help by telling you. Oh, and offering you a chunky 20% discount. See the bottom of the story for details.

We were very impressed with the Total Cycling Holidays setup when we chatted to them at the Cycle Show at the NEC last month. And not just because they were handing out wine and snacks. Okay, partly that. But the holidays look great, too.

The company behind Total Cycling Holidays has its roots in skiing, and because of that they have a fair portfolio of property up in Alpe d'Huez. And because the skiing isn't great in July, they've decided to set up some cycling holidays over the summer: sensible enough.

What do you know, there's some pretty special riding in the area. Not least the 21 hairpins back up to the Alpe which, if the fancy takes you, you can attempt on three of the five riding days in the signature Coffee, Cake and Craic tour that runs weekly from 26 May to mid-September. If you don't fancy it every day – and there's some big rides in the week – then they'll pick you up at the bottom.

As well as the Alpe you'll also be tackling the Col du Glandon, Col de la Croix de Fer, Col de la Sarenne, Col d'Ornon, Col de la Morte, Les Deux Alpes and more in nearly 500km of riding over five days, with over 10,000m of climbing thrown in to keep it interesting.

The cost for this eight day, seven night trip is £1,475. That doesn't seem too bad as a headline price, but it's what you get as standard that makes it look like really good value. Flights are included, as is carriage of your bike, as are transfers to Alpe d'Huez. The price is based on single occupancy so there's no single supplement. All meals are included, all rides are fully supported and you even get three sports massages during the week as part of the basic price. Aside from buying a few beers and coffees, it looks like you'll be hard pressed to spend anything while you're out in France.

As well as the five-day tour there's a Marmotte package (excluding entry to the event), a four-night slimmed down 'Espresso' version of the five-dayer with three rides, triathlon, women-only trips and more.

20% off with road.cc until the end of October – call 01483 79 11 88 to book

You can get 20% off the price of the Coffee, Cakes and Craic trip with road.cc until the end of October – our back-of-the-fag-packet calculation suggests that's just £1,180, all in. Not bad eh? Online booking isn't available yet but you can call Total Cycling Holidays on 01483 79 11 88 and quote the code ROADCC16 to get your discount. Happy alp-bagging!

www.totalcyclingholidays.co.uk