Day 5 Col de Solour and Col d”Aubisque
Little did I know when I woke in the morning it was going to be an epic day in terms of challenge and perseverance. Plus we were going to watch from the route a little Tour de France action
Breakfast was early and we were in the vans by 8am for the 1 1/2 hour drive to a start point near Lourdes where the Mountains suddenly appeared in the distance. Today we would tackle two famous Pyrenean cols, Col de Soulor and Col d’Aubisque in sunny, hot and humid conditions.
The ride started with Steve Bauer leading just She and I down an awesome river side bike path to get to the start of our climb. The 17k along this incredible scenic path was literally the calm before the storm as we about to enter hell in less than half an hour.
The Col de Solur is a 10 k climb that is literally straight up hill with grades from 7-10+% with the average indicated on my new Garmin 500 GPS bike computer around 7.5%(even though I saw very little of the Garmin display with the sweat pouring off my forehead/glasses).
The rest of our group managed to get a little lost on the ride to the base of the Col so Steve left us to start the climb while he went to find the others. Suddenly we hit our first switch back and the pain was on. Its weird riding and seeing the next challenge directly in front and above and thats what it was like for the next several hours. Both She and I had only two rings on the drive train and 26 gears - boy could we have used that third big ring for Solour!!!
As the ride progresses the temperature went up as the sun reached its mid day position. The road was busy with other cyclists and spectators as the TDF peloton would be on the same climb three hours later. The longer we rode the tougher it got and literally you were up off your saddle more times than not to keep momentum going (sometimes the bike computer indicated speeds of 2 K/hr) - this in 32C heat and heart rates 160+ bmp.
It took everything we had that day to battle the heat and climb of Solour but we made it and it was a real sense of achievement reaching the top. Once we got off our bikes, we inhaled a coke and a sandwich and almost 2L of H20 before finding a strategic point at the crest of the summit to watch the TDF peloton arrive. While we waited the arrival of the break away group (including this day Lance) we were entertained by three Basque musicians who were feeling “no pain” and the TDF caravan circus.
It was exciting to see Lance arrive first in a group of 7 as they headed for the finish followed about 5 minutes by a chase group of 12 or so then the main peloton about 15 minutes later with a small group of 20 bringing up the rear a few minutes later. The crowd on the mountain was full of energy and in a party mood and this was clearly what the TDF is all about. I wish I could have joined in by having a few beers but I knew the 27k decent to our vans was dangerously steep, tricky and very technical.
It was a fast trip down but a lot of it was full on braking just to keep the speed in check. A guy in front of me crashed going around a sharp corner when his bake wheel hit some loose gravel. He got up right away so other than some road rash memories he was fine.
She took the Van down so I was alone on the ride back to the Van and somehow I missed a turn at the bottom and ended going down a rolling road about 5km before getting my bearings and turning around to get back to the van so the return trip was nearly 40k.
The van trip back to Bassibe seemed to take forever as we were all ready for a big dinner. We ended up at the restaurant of a beautiful Inn near our Hotel at 9:15pm and on the menu was perhaps the best fish I have ver tasted - Monk fish with a light creamy sauce. Some nice vino to celebrate the day on the road and then it was back in the Vans to Bassible to get some sleep before the climb of Col de Tourmalet in the morning.
No comments:
Post a Comment