Bagnères-de-Bigorre

Now we come to the big one. Col du Tourmalet.
Bizarrely we combined the highest climb during our stay with the longest parcours. We will go to 2115 meters on a 106k loop from Argeles Gazost, Luz-Saint-Sauveur, Col du Tourmalet, La Mongie, Lourdes and home.
A funny incident as we head u a borrow deep gourge approaching Luz-Saint-Sauveur. A sudden strong headwind arose, followed soon after by an almighty roar. Enter a giant helicopter dragging an electricity tower. “Why didn’t they stop us from riding under this?” It was a wee bit intense with the noise the wind on a narrow precipitous road with a low safety barrier.

There are a lot of cyclists on the road, and no small number of motorcycles.
Some cute villages early and then on the open mountain where the trees fall away to leave pasture.
I get a giddy excitement looking up to the ski station near the summit. I have seen this view so many times watching the Tour on tele, I feel like I am a spectator at home on the couch.
With a few k’s to go the impact of altitude is kicking in and the extra load is detectable. Time to push through that and finish off hard.
There is a mist coming in so the screen at the top looks bleak,. All the riders up there are pretty chuffed, and so they should be. The motorbike riders look pretty pleased with themselves too.
Lunch and coffee at the top and then blast down the other side of the mount@in. After the descent the road has a gentle 3% gradient for about 15k and we fly along until the inevitable immutable law of physics kicks in “what goes down….” Until we get to Lourdes for a beer. 8 k flat spin home.

A brilliant, memorable day on the bike.Read more