Day 14

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Day 14
Cycling away from camp this morning our legs felt as if they would fall off. We had decided to camp around 18km from the start of the climb, or so we thought. Within a few kms the road was climbing steadily and by the official start we had already climbed 210m, from 500 to 760. Now it was time for the real work to start.
Today we went up and over the col du Tourmalet which is the heighst pass around at 2114m with 18km of ascent on our side. Standing at the bottom we had some 1200m still to climb and our legs felt as if they might not carry us all the way to the top. During the first half of the climb Stoph’s rack decided to break on one side but he managed to tie it up for the moment with some rope that we have to make it rideable for the meantime.
By about the 10th km up the hill the road was almost covered with paint of names of riders and messages of support. The Tour de France rode over this col 3 days ago so we guess its the remnents form that. A few k’s later and i was in too much pain and in too deep a concentration to read them anymore however and the last 2 k’s were the hardest i think i have ever ridden so far. They were the last two switchbacks up the head of the valley on a grassy slope and had a gradient of about 10% which is the last thing you need after 16k’s of up!
With the legs burning and the heart racing we finaly pulled over the summit for a good stretch out and some food. Un-surprisingly we were again the only two people that had hauled up bikes loaded with clothes, food, and a tent onto the top and we got some quite impressive looks.
But then it was again time for the down. That and the feeling of pulling over the top of the pass makes it all worth while and to some extent the pain forgotten and we raced again down to find a campsite.
Tomorrow we have a shorter day with one smaller climb but i’m pretty sure our legs will thank us for taking it a bit easy!
Today’s stats were:
Max: 61km
Time: 3:48:48
Average: 14.5 km/h
Distance: 55.48km
Trip distance 1190.08km
Vertical climb: 1,600 m

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