September in the Alpes-Maritimes offers a similar kind of escapism. Beside the sea, the mercury rests somewhere in the mid-20s. In the mountains temperatures are pretty much pitch-perfect for riding. Roads are quieter, the sun is lower, the light is softer. And the big cols are still open.

Legs are still in shape after the high summer season of long days and hard riding. The racing season is coming to a close and riding agendas are beginning adapted for the crossover to winter mode. It’s the perfect time for some free riding, up high.

Ask any Azuréen cyclist worth the salt on their sweaty summer jersey about the Trois Cols and they will go all misty-eyed. Three cols - Allos, Champs and Cayolle. Each one more than 2,000m high, each one with its own charm, every one with its own challenges.

It's a 100km loop of pure ups and downs - any flats along the way are false ones. In the cycling world, it is a relatively unknown option, maybe because it’s neither race, sportive or brevet. It just is. There are no rules. Go clockwise or anti-clockwise, either way will not disappoint and each col will leave its own imprint on your cycling brain. In September the roads are empty, the sky is a deep blue and the slopes are still vibrant green.

Allos has its signs for fly fishing beside the valley’s grand river on the early 4% gradients, the ski village, deserted at this time of year, and newly laid tarmac that winds its way under the lifts to the 2250m summit. A col that cuts through the ridge with high banks either side, it really does go through the lowest part of this particular mountain. The refuge at the top overlooks the Ubaye valley. It’s the only one with remnants of the Tour de France still remaining in white paint on the first set of switchbacks on the north side. Zip up your windbreaker, let the the brakes go, tip it in and find your flow.

Cayolle is a 29km-long story of gorges, open pastures and above-the-tree-line Alpine ruggedness. Locals will know that you can take a cut-through road directly off the descent from Allos and on to the climb without having to go the whole way into Barcelonette. Winding through the gorge, the numerous bridges take dramatic turns over the Bachelard river that gets noisier each week with the over-night rain that often falls up above. Out of the gorge, into the forest at Bayasse surrounded by magic trees providing that alpine fresh fragrance that every car driver seeks to emulate. Above the tree line, another mountain refuge offers comfort on the entrance to the amphitheater created by the peaks that tower over the west side of the Col.

The Cayolle sits on the border between the Haute-Alpes-de-Provence and the Alpes-Maritimes. Like the Var River whose source is 5km down below, this is where the high mountains start their dive into the Med. Eyes front, heads down, through the tunnels towards Saint-Martin d’Entraunes. But it’s no competition, so stop in the switchbacks to take in the perfect mountain vista below.

The Col des Champs offers the final part of mountain drama to finish off the trilogy. In 1975 it was part of the Tour de France when Merckx was the first to the top before he had his famous grand defaillance on the final climb to Pra-Loup. A team Bianchi car crashed on the descent to Colmars and French rider Bernard Thévenet went on to win the stage as The Cannibal showed that he was in fact human.

But Tour de France history, whilst nice, is not what is special about this road and this route. The Col des Champs maybe sums it up best. It's a mountain pass like no other, it has roaming sheep and cattle, a plateau of open pastures, gravel roads branching off towards dramatic grey rock formations and a near 360 view offering a kaleidoscope of all that is great about the high mountains. It's been said before that cycling life above 2,000m is the best life. And September is perhaps the best time to be there.

The Komoot Route