Back in Germany: Alpine Tour 2006

We took a small road to get into Germany. Technically, we weren't allowed to cross the border there, but we did it anyway. There was no border patrol, and the steep climb in the forest was a great final climb. At points we had over 23% grade.

...and once we reached Bavaria, there was snow...


We spent the night at a hostel in Berchtesgaden - a wonderful ski and outdoor village - with lots of history, including Hitler's Eagle's Nest.

At the time, there was an antique car rally...and I couldn't help taking a pic of this Jägermeister Porsche.


As with the previous year, we had a very unhealthy final meal: lots of meat and sausage, washed down with more than enough beer, capped off with some schnapps.


For those of you that don't believe that I really did duct tape my tire...here's the proof of my 'operation'. The duct tape really did hold out well, and it definitely saved me the last 40km of the Tour.


While the weather wasn't particularly the best, it was still a great week. It is hard to beat being in the saddle for a full week with a good friend, being so close to nature. We didn't have as many long climbs as the previous year in Switzerland, but we covered a lot more distance - all in all we rode almost 1000 km over the 6 full days riding.

Before this year's tour was even finished, we started talking about 'next year's ride': we're going to do the classic Tour de France climbs in the Alps.

Slovenia was simply beautiful. We're heading there for vacation this summer, so there will be more pics to come.