Col du Tourmalet

The weather this morning looked pretty iffy, with a steady cold drizzle here in Lourdes and rumors that the top of the Col du Tourmalet was closed. However, we've learned to hope for the best, so at about 9:00 a.m. we set off in a long paceline for the big climb of the week. Mother Nature cooperated today, and within 3 miles of leaving Lourdes we were riding on dry roads. The total ride today (map & ride data here) was just a bit over 100 km. The Tour de France rode over the Tourmalet yesterday, approaching from the east side before descending to Argeles-Gazost and continuing on to Pau. Remember, we rode this last 90 km of the course yesterday just hours ahead of the peleton. Since today is a rest day for the Tour, our ride up the Tourmalet from the west (again from Argeles-Gazost) follows the last 38 km of tomorrow's stage, which will culminate in a summit finish atop the Col du Tourmalet.

After about 30 km of riding, starting flat and then gradually tipping upwards, we stopped at the base of the mountain to replenish our bidons, and then set off. At 11:00, one of the guides rode past me muttering gravely, "And so it begins . . . " And so it did. The climb of between 15 and 20 km (depending on where you decided it "officially" began), was the most steady 8% climb you could imagine. Occasionally we had a short respite of 5-6% for a couple hundred meters, and occasionally a steeper pitch, including one awful stretch at about 15%. However, the steeper parts were, until the final couple of km, mostly short. It was cold, damp and foggy, but at least the road was dry, as thousands of bikers streamed up the mountain. I settled into what I've hypothesized is my "climbing sweet spot," i.e., a steady 8% grade, 8 kph speed and slow steady cadence. I feel as if I could do this all day. Perhaps an exaggeration, but today it seemed just right. The total climb took 1 hour and 50 minutes, a steady grinding slog up the mountain. Miraculously, our armada of support vans got all the way to the summit. In fact, at the top there were only police cars and Custom Getaways vans. Honestly, I don't know how they do it. About 4 or 5 km from the summit, blue sky appeared and I looked out and over the cloud tops. An amazing vision indeed (see 1st photo above). The final km exceeded 10% in grade, but was exquisite. I got out of the saddle with about 500 meters to go, and reached the summit elated and still feeling strong. There was a massive crowd right at the monument, but I managed to get to the crest and take a few photos.

Here I am at the top with Tony Barlow, an Aussie who was on the trip with us two years ago and accompanied me on my very first day of mountain riding that year, when we climbed the Cols de Galibier, Telegraphe and Croix de Fer all on one glorious day. Now, we've accomplished all of that plus Alpe D'Huez and Mt. Ventoux together too.

We came back to Lourdes on essentially a reverse of our route up. At first, the descent was pretty sketchy because there were SO many people riding both up and down, but eventually it thinned out and we enjoyed a breathtakingly fast descent. Back in the mist, it was chilly so I had pulled on arm warmers, knee warmers and a windbreaker. Another stop at the bus, then only four of us decided to ride all the way back to Lourdes, the rest opting to ride back via bus or van. The return trip was very fast, but very fun – except for the stretch when we somehow found ourselves riding on the shoulder of the equivalent of a French interstate highway. At first, we thought the honking drivers were being very friendly, until we realized that we weren't supposed to be there. In any case, we survived and pulled back into Lourdes around 3:00 p.m. That left four delightfully open hours before meeting for dinner at 7:00.

Tomorrow the plan is to ride to the Col de Marie-Blanque, southwest of Pau, which is a Category 1 climb and the first climb of the TdF stage. The peleton will then climb the Col du Soulor again, from a different direction, before the final climb up the Tourmalet along the exact route that we rode this morning. We should be able to get to the summit of the Marie-Blanque (final 3.3 km at 11.5% average grade!), then descend to the bottom where we will view the stage in the village of Escot. After that, a long ride to our next hotel in St. Emilion.