We woke up to clear skies but some fog on the mountaintops. This is one of the few days it wasn’t raining and cool as we started out. And this would be a good omen as we ascended the highest peak in the trip on this day — Col du Tourmalet at 2115m. We suspected fog would lift by noon, and it did.The first part of the day was through the Georg du Luz. This turned out to be a 3 to 6% gradient for 17 km. Then the climb to the top of Tourmalet – another 17 km. It turned out to be a warm and sunny day; perfect for cycling.
Terry and I rode up together after leaving Dick and Robin. We passed this dude on a hybrid bike with packs on the back. We thought he was local to the region as he was wearing no helmet. We saw him the previous day going up d’Aubisque and then again descending. He was stopped on the side of the road on the descent (of the d’Aubisque) and I slowed to ask him if he was OK (in English) and he said he was fine — in English. On this day he stopped to talk to Dave as Dave was stopped waiting for riders and found out he is actually from Manchester and lives just a few miles from Dick!
For this trip he flew to Toulouse on Wednesday, rode down to roughly the same route we were one and was attempting some of the climbs we were doing. Earlier in the year he had tried to complete the same ten day route we were on but a few of the climbs were closed due to snow. So, he wanted to return to the Pyrenees and complete climbs he missed on his earlier trek. He then had a flight back from Toulouse on Sunday. He wasn’t sure if and/or how he was going to make it back to Toulouse for his evening flight….
He had two flat tires in two days. Dave stopped to help him today and found his tires and tubes were old and worn out. A closer inspection of his bike revealed rather questionable parts quality and dire need of maintenance.
[rant]
For most of us, optimizing time while on cycling trip such as this makes for an enjoyable time. That includes riding a well-maintained rig that can withstand the rigors of the Pyrenees. Spending time fixing bike problems while on a trip like this is an extreme waste of time. $100 of quality parts and maintenance before a trip can save prevent significant headaches and lost time.
[/rant]
With 6 km to go, I start to see Elvis and Terry slowly pulls away from me. With about 5km left, he’s about 100 meters ahead of me and I need to stop. We were well above the tree line. I’m sure glad the weather is sunny and warm as the view is fantastic so I take some photos. I reeeeeally needed something to eat and I had nothing left in my water bottles.
As I’m re-mounting my bike dreading the coming finale up the mountain, Dave pulls up with the van. Whew! I chow down two energy bars and a bottle of water and fill the other with energy drink. By this time Terry is 2 km ahead of me and I try to catch him near the top but to no avail… Dave stops again for photos of us as we near the top. Here’s Terry (which is mostly what I saw when he was pulling away from me….):
And me:
Terry beats me to the top by 6 minutes or so. The last km was 10+% and it hurt. Dave is there with the van and we quickly take photos and then chow down lunch. Dick, Robin and the other English guy arrive a bit later. We take group photos, finish our lunch and start down. The view from whence we rode:
And the group shot. The British dude is second left; Dave was taking this photo so he’s not in this one.
As usual, Terry, Dick, and Robin blow by me on the descent. My hands are numb after 12 km of ‘falling’, so I stop for a minute to recover. I make it to the bottom many minutes after those three and wait for Dave. Dave is 20 minutes behind us. The Engish guy had another flat and Dave assisted him.
Dave and Robin swap support duties and Terry, Dave, and Dick and I ascend d’Aspin. It was a pretty easy climb of 13 km. The first 6 km were relatively easy and the remainder 7 km were 7% gradient or so. I felt muuuch better on this climb than I did on the Tourmalet.
I finish the 13km in 50 minutes, terry is 2 min behind me. Dick is 15 minutes behind us. Dave and Engish gent are 30 minutes behind us. Here’s Terry:
Dave and the British gent sprint for the top:
When everyone has arrived we gather for group pictures and feed the goats. Here’s where we came from, with Tourmalet in the background.
…and where we were headed:
Those bloody goats… The goats at the top of this mountain were some family’s pets as they were very friendly and new exactly where to look for food. Most cyclists carry extra energy bars in their jersey pockets. These bars have nice crinkly wrappers and are rather loud when opened. I strongly suspect those goats have been fed many energy bars in their sorry lives and have learned where cyclists keep the bars. Soooo, I saw more than one goat sneak up on some unsuspecting cyclist and yack an energy bar from the back pocket of the cyclist’s jersey….
Here’re Dave and Dick:
Terry, Dick, Dave, myself, and the British dude (Robin is taking this shot):
The descent was very fast – 5 – 7% gradient. We get caught behind cars and they pull over for us. The hotel was great and included a pool; I think we peaked in accomodations that eve. Dinner included leg du canard.
End of day 4. Statistics:
- Start: Argelès Gazost
- End: Arreau
- Distance: 79 km
- Climbs: Col du Tourmalet, Col d’Aspin
- Total gain: 2342 m