It rained a good portion of the night and it continued to rain as we packed up and left in the morning. As we rolled out, the inn-keepers were moving the tables from the center of the atrium and moving the plants in — to water them…..
Apparently the French say ‘it is raining like a cow pissing.’ This morning it was raining like a heard of cows pissing. We delayed riding after breakfast to see if the rain subsided. It did lighten up by 10 AM, so three of us took off in full rain gear. Robin borrowed a ‘cape’ from Terry. It was more of a poncho and it covered the handlebars in the front. While such an article of clothing would be good for a comuter going about 15 kph, it really didn’t work for the type of riding we were doing. Robin ditched the cape after about 10 km..
Due to the rain as we ascended Marie Blanc, I left my camera in the sag vehicle and didn’t take any photos on the ride for the morning. The rain subsided near the top and was just foggy and cloudy for the remainder of the climb. We couldn’t see much at top. The ascent was incredible — 3 – 4 km 11+% gradient, some at 13.5%. Very difficult. The first portion of the climb was rather easy, the last 5 km were the worst.
Dick saw the message on the road: “Hell starts here” when the gradient started at 13%. Unfortunately my French isn’t good enough to translate these messages quickly, especially when I’ve been riding near oxygen debt for 40 minutes, so I didn’t see this message.
The descent turned out to be very easy. The top was wet, but not steep. And of course, the clouds and fog cleared and we rode in mostly sunny skies. There was an incredible plateau halfway down Marie Blanc, very picturesque and filled with farm animals. Where was my camera!?! The rest of descent was easy, as well.
We had lunch at a delightful little cafe in Laruns. The sun was shining and it was relatively warm. The warmest it would be for the entire day. Here’s Laruns on the way out of town towards our next challenge — d’’Aubisque.
The ascent to d’Aubisque was great, and relatively easy. The road gradient was much easier than the ascent over Marie Blanc in the morning, nothing over 8 – 9%. However, it was relatively long. We rode 10km along a valley to the official start of the climb, and then another 16km to the top.
Here’s one of the few positive messages for Lance. I wouldn’t have seen it were it not for the ‘nature break’ I took.
Many of the roads used for the Tour de France are frequented by other cyclists, as well. Consequently, there are many signs informing cyclists of where they are relative to the tops of hills. Here was a common sight. This sign shows the name of the climb, the height at the top of the mountain, altitude at this point (1560m), distance to the top of the mountain (2km) and gradient for the next kilometer (7%). I did see some signs that read 13.5% on the way up Marie Blanc in the morning, but I had left my camera in the sag vehicle….
Note the minimalist barriers at the side of the road. Because of the fog, I couldn’t see over the barriers to what lay beyond. Maybe that was just as well….
Of course, we ran into more herds of goats, just lounging around. At the top of some mountains the goats were rather friendly; these however, pretty much minded their own business.
The top, of course, was shrouded in clouds and fog, and just a bit chilly.
And what was to become a recurring theme, the weather on the descent was rather nice — sunny and warm with some banks of fog rolling through. We descended just a bit (350m) into yet another magnificent valley before the small climb to Col de Soulor.
The descent from Col de Soulor was great. Some of the roads were a bit moist, but we flew as the roads were relatively straight with very few tight switchback corners.
I was almost nailed by cow crossing road just in front of me. Robin and I were taking it easy down the mountain at about 40 kpm; he was just ahead of me about 100m. He flew past a few cows walking along the side of road and one cow decided she wanted to walk on the other side of road. Sooo, she just started across road just as Robin flew by and I missed it by about one foot.
I ended up behind a car that I couldn’t pass. oh, well. We completed the descent on dry roads. I remembered how much fun descending is; we hit 65 kph on the straight sections at the bottom. I think Terry beats us down by 10 minutes or so….
We had another good meal and more than a few beers at Argelès Gazost that evening.
End of day 3. Statistics:
- Start: Lurbe/St Christeau
- End: Argelès Gazost
- Distance: 82 km
- Climbs: Marie Blanc, Col d’Aubisque, Col de Soulor
- Total gain: 2152 m