Stage 19 of the 2016 Tour de France (Albertville to Saint-Gervais Mont Blanc) takes in a host of beautiful Alpine passes. We rode several of them back in 1994. It took a few days! With rest days too!
Above, we see me approach the summit of the Col de la Forclaz after a hot climb from Martigny. It turned out Peter’s back wheel had buckled on the climb, making it an even more incredible ascent (with panniers) than for race riders on carbon frames with team cars. In the next photo we see Peter’s panniers being double stacked onto my bike for the descent to a bike repair shop in Chamonix.
After Chamonix we rode through Megeve (part of the 2016 Tour). Soon after Megeve I saw a left turn to the Col des Saisies. We didn’t know about col bagging (and the Ordre Des Cols Durs) at that point but we recognised the name from Le Tour, so we turned off to climb it. Two days later a veteran col bagger at Alpe d’Huez told us about the OCD and we were hooked.
Finally, for this post we see the Alpine pass sign which led us to the Forclaz. We hadn’t originally planned to ride the Forclaz but the other passes were shut with snow so we took the open one! We also met the post lady on her bike near Albertville.
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bells and bikes 