Please Don't Let Me Forget Anything!

The half moons tan lines on the backs of my hands from my Grand Tour mitts is very cool, non cyclists are very puzzled by them...

My tan isn't as dark as I'd like due to my wife insisting I be sensible before I left, and packing me off with factor 15. I was very good, as I had to wear a helmet which I never do at home, and so as I have a shaved head the possibility of a stripy head through the vents drove me to always put lots of creme on.

Still, my wife always says "that reminds me, I must buy some Neopolitan ice-cream" whenever she catches sight of me undressed, so I must be looking pretty good!

The Iseran is such a nice climb, I think it was my favourite of the whole trip, the bottom was really hot, but as you climb into the snow line it cools down, but still with crystal clear skies.

At 2770m the pass is high, and the descent was amazing, I must have overtaken more motorcycles and cars on that descent than was healthy for me, and held an insane speed hitting late 50's mph on some of the longer straights.

Also the col sign is worth climbing to, which became a major issue to me after a while (strange I know), the Izoard has a cool marker too (the best of them all in fact), but the Galibier is pathetic. All that climbing, to be rewarded by a reflective road sign on a metal pole covered in stickers!

Yeah, I did remember skewers, as Dave said it may have encumbered me a little to attempt the descent of the L'Iseran etc without...

I have got a good few pics of my bike leaning against various col signs (kind of de rigueur), but here's a nice shot from the top of the Galibier.

Thanks Fringe...

There were a few un-named cols, but these are the highlights -

Col de Cou, Col de la Colombiere, Col de Aravis, Col de Saises, Col de Pre (twice), Cormet de Roselend, Val D'Isere, Col de L'Iseran, Col du Telegraphe, Col du Galibier, Col du Lautaret, Col d'Izoard, Col de Vars, Col de Restefonde, Col de la Bonette.

And all finished off with a ride down the promenade in Nice and a quick dip in the Med!

Well, back from the Alps and I didn't forget anything, my bike arrived undamaged in Geneva, and when I repacked it in Nice airport's car-park it appears I repeated the same trick, as I have now rebuilt it and all appears well, complete and undamaged...

I rode better than I could have hoped and my bike was perfect, it even got a few crowds of Frenchmen around it in some of the villages on the way through the Alps.

Yeah, I'm hoping that will be a by-product of remembering everything!