We've now had a little time to mentally process this trip. Some of the climbs stand out among others. The Rat Penat of day one, with the short stretches of 19%, 20% and 23% grades, will be forever remembered.
Day 2, as mentioned in an earlier post, we found ourselves riding with the B group. This is the day my right knee hurt, the ride was 150 km long and included a 2 km ascent up Santuari de Pinos, a 12% grade. I think I mostly used the left leg the entire time up that hill. Craig was getting pretty strong and beat me up.
Day 2, as mentioned in an earlier post, we found ourselves riding with the B group. This is the day my right knee hurt, the ride was 150 km long and included a 2 km ascent up Santuari de Pinos, a 12% grade. I think I mostly used the left leg the entire time up that hill. Craig was getting pretty strong and beat me up.
Belinda, from Australia, a triathlete who was using this ride as prep for an event in August.
We stopped at this little coffee shop for a short break.
Day 3 we went back to the C group and we had another long ride, about 135 km, ending in Cellers, Spain. We completed two climbs, Coll de Jou and Coll de Boixols, along with a few shorter ones thrown in towards the end.
Day 4 introduced us to our first long, hard climbs, the Port de la Bonaigua (23 km) and Col de Portillon (8.5 km), the latter with 5 km of 7.2-8.2% grades. According to Peter, the Col de Portillon is the most climbed in the Tour since it serves as a gateway to the Pyrenees. Note, Col and Coll; we were now in the French Pyrenees.
Coll de Boixols
Port de la Bonaigua
A view from our balcony of Hotel Acta Luchon with a view of our bike & luggage vans, We had a very good French dinner on the sidewalk across the street. A parade celebrating the festival of St. Jean entertained us that evening.
Day 5 found us on Col de Peyresourde, a 15 km climb with some pretty steep sections and Col d' Aspin with some 7 to 8.7% grades to climb.
Summit Col d'Aspin
The cows at the top of Col d'Aspin
Finally, we headed up the the east side of Col du Tourmalet, a 17.5 km climb with a long section of 7.9-10% graded climbs.
Craig and I with our new friend, Oleg, who happens to be from Portland
Craig, looking down at the last part of our east side ascent of Tourmalet
Looking down the western side of Tourmalet
Looking down the western side of Tourmalet
As to the Lance sighting? Supposedly, as I was 2 km from the top of Tourmalet, a guy ahead of me suddenly stopped, starting taking pictures and said Lance had just passed me going downhill. I was too tired to even look and definitely didn't want to stop.
We really thought day 4 and 5 would be the hardest, but Day 6 surprised us. We started with Col de Soulor and Col d'Aubisque, two climbs separated only by a short 2 km downhill section at 20 km. The total climb is about 30 km.
Top of Col de Soulor; Gavin from Australia, Jill and Judy from LA. Judy was ill that day and didn't ride.
Directions to Col d'Aubisque and Pau (you'll see this on the Tour this year)
The tunnel to d'Aubisque. This road is being worked on for the Tour and the tunnel is dark and slippery.
This video of Craig coming up dAubisque I have labeled "Shut up and Ride" for obvious reasons.
Of course, I meant to say "we pay the big bucks", not "we get paid the big bucks" to do this. I must have been tired.
Col d'Aubisque and the bike-eating donkeys
Peter Thomson and the Hotel d'Aubisque
Bike art at the top of Col d'Aubisque
Jill and Craig at a rest stop after Col d'Aubisque
Bike art at the top of Col d'Aubisque
Jill and Craig at a rest stop after Col d'Aubisque
We had lunch, then ascended Col de Marie Blanque, followed by a climb that I thought short but hard, Col d'Ishere. It's only 4.5 km long but comes towards the end of the day with some short, tough stretches of 10-12% grades.
To wrap it up, Day 7 was not only long (160 km) but we started out with a climb up Col de Bagargui. The elevation is not too high, but the last 7 km of the climb has some 8.5-11.5% grades. It was also very hot, 33-35 degrees C. This video shows Craig coming up the last part accompanied by the cacophony of cow bells:
We ended the ride with 4 more climbs before we hit the Atlantic Ocean; Col d'Ispeguy, Puerto de Otxondo, Collando de Lizuniaga and Col d'Ibardin. These seemed slightly easy in comparison to the previous days climbs. They were short with only one km on Lizuniaga that presented us with a short 7.5% grade. Of course, we shouldn't have been surprised by the little 'surprise' bump going into Hendaye, a short 1 km 20% climb that nearly did us in. One person dropped their chain and Oleg broke his. Peter said he worked hard to get us to the Atlantic without going on highways and had to use roads that went in between hotels and houses, therefore the short, hard climb. I'd learned by then not to complain!
A sweet sight indeed was our first glimpse of the Atlantic Ocean. Sadly, I did not take time for any pictures at all, being in a hurry to get to our hotel, take off my bike shoes and get a beer. I will say, it was a very emotional feeling to ride the last 2-3 km alongside the ocean in Hendaye, France, knowing we'd successfully biked over 550 miles from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic!
Col d'Ishere
To wrap it up, Day 7 was not only long (160 km) but we started out with a climb up Col de Bagargui. The elevation is not too high, but the last 7 km of the climb has some 8.5-11.5% grades. It was also very hot, 33-35 degrees C. This video shows Craig coming up the last part accompanied by the cacophony of cow bells:
Three of the 'A' team on the top of Col de Bagargui. We loved their jerseys.
A sweet sight indeed was our first glimpse of the Atlantic Ocean. Sadly, I did not take time for any pictures at all, being in a hurry to get to our hotel, take off my bike shoes and get a beer. I will say, it was a very emotional feeling to ride the last 2-3 km alongside the ocean in Hendaye, France, knowing we'd successfully biked over 550 miles from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic!
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