Today I took on two regulars of the Tour - Col de l'Aspin and Col du Tourmalet. It has been a goal of mine to do Col du Tourmalet, so I was quite excited when I hit the road in Loudenvielle. From Loudenvielle I headed north towards Arreau, it is slightly downhill but today you wouldn't have known it as there was a strong headwind.
Col de l'Aspin - 12km at 6.5% (profile) - starts just outside Arreau. At the bottom I passed a couple groups of riders, and instantly thought I was on fire. Soon I had company, the riders of the last group I passed had joined me. This included a young guy from North London, and a 66 year old local. The young guy disappeared up the hill, and the old guy sat on my wheel. Then 3km from the summit, the old guy dropped me. It was a harder climb than I had expected, either that or my legs were tired from a week of long climbs.
It was an exhilerating drop off the top into Marbre. No sooner had I hit the valley, I started to go upwards again. Tourmalet starts from Sainte-Marie-de-Campan. From this side it is 17.2km at 7.4% (profile). About 14km from the top I was joined by my support vehicle with Amanda and Mel shouting support, Kenth driving and Freya enjoying the journey. They headed up the road, promising to join me half way up. From this point, the route kicked, and kilometre and kilometre with average gradients above 8.5% followed.
Soon I was in the clouds. With each passing kilometre the visibility progressively got worse, and by the time I next saw Amanda and Mel 4km from the top, one could barely see 10m ahead. Here I was treated to a waffle as Mel ran beside me pushing me up the hill. The last 4km were a slog, but soon I reached a point I recognised from 2 years ago - the reinforced concrete walls that indicate the top. Then out of the mist, the figures of Amanda, Kenth and Mel (and Freya). I had done it - so I did the now trademark double-fist-pump (and nearly crashed).
I would have liked to have rolled to the bottom but the conditions were too bad. So here at the top of Tourmalet, the place that inspired me to buy a bike in the first place, I finished my last ride in Europe (for some time). Though I didn't have the views I would have liked, I will remember this moment always. It was awesome.
Garmin Connect : Col de l'Aspin - Col du Tourmalet
PS - Pictures to come.
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