A long day today.. 9 hours in the saddle. the stage profile will show you why
The first part of the ride was absolutely fantastic, and with the arrival of Ed G-P & Charlie Armistead, and the re-arrival of Bev and Chris, there was plenty of talking and riding through the first easy sections of the day. Only until we got to around the 80km mark did we feel like we had approached the Pyrenees (as we couldn't see any mountains until that point..), but cycling through this man-made tunnel really felt like it marked the "gateway to the Pyrenees"
Lunch came at the 120km mark, and amazingly everyone was there by 12.30pm, which must be our earliest one ever. This morning there were 2 start times, with the early group heading off at 6.30am, and the rest of us leaving at 7am, so to get to lunch at the base of the day's big climb that early was a real plus.
From lunch there was an 18km gentle 2-3% grind to the base of the day's major climb. Not steep, but it did mean that when you started the climb your legs did not feel overly fresh. The climb up to the top of the Port de Pailheres (which is a 15.5km "beyond classification" climb) will be forever remembered.. on a normal hot dry day it would be very hard, but no doubt beautiful. For the majority of the climb i tapped out a reasonably good pace, but 3km from the finish a massive storm passed overhead.. with 2km to go i was forced to stop and put on my rain jacket. 1km later there was lightening, hail,thunder and severe wind… i got over the top shivering and in desperate need of getting over the top and to get down to warm air once again.. the top of the climb was at 2001 metres, and god only knows what the actual temperature was at that point, but it was a long way off the 20 degrees it had been at the bottom... A few hundred metres from the summit the road was full of sheep and horses that were pulling long faces in the conditions too. I could not have stayed on the summit any longer than the 60 seconds that i did, and no way was i going to get my camera out to start taking pictures for the scrapbook. I remember that at one point i was so wet i had to do a check to see that i wasn't cycling naked.
The descent was equally horrific.. freezing cold still, rain pouring down the road with debris all over the place. I pretty much descended with the brakes fully on for the next 15 minutes, not easy when the hands are freezing.. once about 10km off the summit, we entered a cafe for our final snack stop, a fire was on, and we were given hot chocolate to warm up with.. there was a long queue in the bathroom for those wanting to spend a few minutes under the warm hand dryer too! Thinking back on it the whole 60 minute experience feels like a dream.. i think i switched off in those last few km to the summit, just intent on getting over the summit after 8 hours of cycling. I don't think i even considered how lightening proof i was so close to the storm on my carbon fibre bike, the topic of conversation at the final snack stop.
Once warm (about 45 minutes later!) and after the rain had stopped, we set off for the last 8km of downhill before entering Aix Les Thermes and for the final steep 8km ascent to the ski resort of Ax 3 Domaines. I rode this with Ed G-P, Bev and Chris, helping each other to the top through some very steep sections. Once at the top it was time for a quick photo before the descent to the hotel and into a hot bath!
Climbing to the ski resort of Ax 3 Domaines
Ed happy with the climbing it seems..
Happy that the 9 hours are over
Tough day in the Pyrenees… but 1 down and 3 more to go. Early start tomorrow!
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