I’ve been cycling since I was fifteen, but I never went to the Alps in France and climb some real cols. Finally I got to make the trip. Together with Aimee, I planned a week long bike riding in France. We first went to the Mont Ventoux and then moved up, to go to the Alps. There we stayed a few days to climb some big cols.

Mont Ventoux on June 5th:
[activity id=1618921924] What a trip. We managed to climb the Ventoux almost twice. When being close to the top for our 2nd time, we ended up in a heavy thunderstorm. We thought it was too dangerous to continue and started our decent over a very wet road. Sometimes a bit scary, but we made it down safely.

Col de La Madeleine on June 7th:
[activity id=1622795572] The Col de La Madeleine is a nice and easy climb, although still very long. It is about 20km long and around 1500m in elevation. It took us over 2,5hrs but we did make a lot of stops to recover and take some pictures.

After reaching the top we road back to the start of the Col de La Madeleine and finished at a very nice restaurant. After eating a big bowl of pasta, we made our way to the second climb of today, Col de Glandon followed by Croix de Fer.

Col de Glandon and Croix de Fer on June 7th:
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What an awesome climb. The first part is an easy climb with slik asphalt through the woods. The second part is a bit steeper and you’re still riding through the woods and get an occasional via on a fast running river. Then there is a steep part that really hurts and is around 10-11% and finally the last part is so beautiful riding through walls of snow. After you finally made it to the top of the Col de Glandon, there is just a little extra to get to the top of the Croix de Fer.

Col de Telegraph and Col du Galibier on June 9th:
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Where de Glandon was an awesome climb, the Col du Galibier is the absolute best. After a beautiful climb to the Telegraph you continue to the Galibier. This climb just goes on and on and on. While climbing with 11% you see another big Alp to your right and you’re just thinking you’re lucky you don’t have to go there. Then there is a sharp bent and yes, you start that same climb. Hopefully you’ll reach the top soon and you indeed do, to find out that this top is not your end point, there is another long ride to finally reach the absolute top of the Galibier. Again between big walls of snow.

See this video of our trip