Tour de France souveniers

The 100th tour just spent some time in the mountains and valleys of the region Savoie in France. A lot of things happened, even shortened stages due to meteo conditions, snow in July.

The entrance in the Savoie region happened with the climb on Col du Galibier, 2642 m. From the end of the 18th stage until the 20th stage Le Tour visits very beautiful places and hard climbs: Col de l'Iseran, Val Thorens.

Col du Galibier: Lenght 18 km/ height 2642 m/ gradient 7%/ total elevation gained 1245 m

Col de l'Iseran: Length 16 km/ height 2764 m/ gradient 5.9%/ total elevation gained 950 m

Val Thorens: Length 36,5 km/ height  2233 m/ gradient 4.9%/ total elevation gained 1906 m

So why not get a souvenir from Savoie, from the well-known knifemaker Opinel.

An engraved Opinel for 24$

or a distinctive shirt color Opinel (yellow, polka dot or green)

Bic Galet eraser test

Another post, another eraser, another test
This time the BIC Galet eraser is put to the test against polymer HB and 2B, lead from HB to 6B, charcoal, and color pencils. A standard copy machine paper was used, nothing fancy.

The Galet is a soft eraser comparable with the Factis S20, but not as grippy. It has a large oval size and does not come with a protective paper wrapping.
It did a fantastic job on the paper, erasing with no problem the polymer leads (rOtring), and the leads HB to 6B (Koh I Noor except the 3B which is Faber Castell). It has the tendency to smudge the lead a bit, so if you have to make precise passes it might not be the best in the bunch.
It did a very nice job on the charcoal, even though it did not erase it completely most of it is gone. Even the colored pencils were no match for this Bic beast. A very faint trace of color is left on the paper. It outperformed the Factis S20 in the erasing test.
But it has negative points in my opinion. The first is the price. It is way higher than the Factis S20, at almost 1 euro per piece. For this amount of money, you can get about 3 Factis S20 or 2 Faber Castell Dust Free.
Like the Factis it produces a large amount of erasing dust.

You can also check out Factis S20 review and an eraser competition