Today would be the Epic day of riding all week. As I mentioned in an earlier post, my rain gear is in my day pack that I don't have access to. We woke up this morning to rain. Fortunately, by the time we started the ride, it stopped raining and I was glad as I didn't have my rain jacket or booties. It was "Seattle like" weather in March. I did put on my winter cycling jacket and Stefan (our guide) gave me one of his water resistent jackets to wear. (What great service!) 
Our route today was to climb one the most famous climbs of the Tour and this was the Col du Tourmalet. I have biked the Tourmalet 2 others times, so I know what to expect and that is a very, very tough climb with some gradients of 10.5%. Our group started from Lourdes.
Before we climbed the Tourmalet, they took us on some nice quiet, but hilly roads to get to the base of the climb. By the time I got to the base of the climb, I had already climbed about 1200 feet. Up until this point, I haven't taken any pictures as the views were blocked with heavy cloud layer and fog. By the time we got to the base of the climb, we would be climbing consistently for the next 17 kilometers. 
At this point, I turned on my music player on my cell phone and stuck it in my camel back. I played Bon Jovi and Beatle music all the way to La Mongie. Others seemed to enjoy the music too. Today, I had Jeff, our guide staying back with me on the climb like he did the day before. I told him, he didn't have to stay with me as I know the road, but he stayed with me. Just like the day before, we stopped and took pictures along the way.
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| Getting into fog on the climb |
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| At La Mongie- lunch time |
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| Lunch time music |
About 4 kms before the top, I stopped in the town La Mongie for lunch. I took a quick lunch and ate it outdoors. At the time I sat down for lunch, all of a sudden a band started playing music. It reminded me of music I would hear in Leavenworth, WA. Jeff and I enjoyed the music for this quick lunch break
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| Donkey crossing |
After lunch, it was time to do the final climb of the Tourmalet. We were in and out of the fog all the way to the top. When we summitted, the sun came out a little and it cleared up enough to get some good pictures in the distance. While at the top, Jeff took a picture of me in front of the infamous Tourmalet sign. Then I saw some cyclists climbing up above the sign to get their picture taken with the statue of a cyclist. Jeff waited for me and took a picture of me with the statue.
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| See switchbacks to top |
I then walked over to the restaurant looking for a bathroom break and I almost forgot about the souvenir store at the top. I went into the souvenir store and bought a Tourmalet bike jersey. This one is a special jersey as it celebrates the 100th anniversary of the Tour's first time cycling the Tourmalet. On the day we climbed the Tourmalet, it was the exact date of the 100th anniverary. July 21st, 1910.
As we made our descent, you need to take it slow as there are drop offs. The Tour will take those descents at 40 to 50 mphs. I took the descent at about 18 to 20 mph. So far, the weather has cooperated and stayed dry.
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| Extra tourists wanting a bus ride |
When we descended 8 km, we came upon the Trek Travel viewing spot for the next day of the Tour. This was my chance to get my rain jacket out of my day bag. Jessy, who was running that viewing spot, spent about 15 minutes looking for my bag amongst 10 tour group bags. He found it and I got my rain jacket. I really appreciated that he allowed me to get my jacket.
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| Jeff...being a great guide |
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| Top of Col du Tourmalet |
As we left, the fog came in pretty thick for the final descent. As Jeff and I continued to descend, we had cyclists slowing us down as 2 cyclists crashed on the descent in two different accidents. There was a lot of traffic making the descent which included cyclists, pedestrians and cars. After we got to the bottom, we were on the main road to Lourdes.
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| At the Statue on top of the Tourmalet |
It then started to rain pretty hard. I don't mind rain, but without a shoulder on the road and alot of traffic, it wasn't my favorite stretch. We biked 6 miles in the rain and then the rain stopped. I'm glad I had my rain jacket as I used it! We finished the last 12 or so miles on the bike trail back to Lourdes. Once again, Jeff, being a great guide, stayed with me on this day. We had 5 other cyclists in our group who did 3 climbs that day as Trek Travel allowed flexibility for those who wanted more climbing.
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| Switchbacks for descent |
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| More switchbacks |
I finished the day with 66 miles of cycling and 6600 feet of climbing. I just hope my cycling shoes will dry by tomorrow. I used the hair dryer a few times on the shoes and stuffed kleenex to try to dry them out. All in all, today was an epic day of cycling.
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| 100th Anniversay |
Since I've ridden the Tourmalet 3 times, today, my actual saddle time climbing the Tourmalet from the base of the climb to the top was 16 minutes of saddle time faster. This mountain isn't as tough as it was the first 2 times I did this climb. All 3 times, had comparable weather....cold and cloudy. We had dinner tonight at the hotel. The next day of riding was going to be very tough as we will be biking the Tourmalet from the way we came down it today. Our viewing spot is 8 km from the top.
See the GPS data below for the climb up and then the descent back to Lourdes on the backside of the Col du Tourmalet.
Today would be the Epic day of riding all week. As I mentioned in an earlier post, my rain gear is in my day pack that I don't have access to. We woke up this morning to rain. Fortunately, by the time we started the ride, it stopped raining and I was glad as I didn't have my rain jacket or booties. It was "Seattle like" weather in March. I did put on my winter cycling jacket and Stefan (our guide) gave me one of his water resistent jackets to wear. (What great service!) 
Our route today was to climb one the most famous climbs of the Tour and this was the Col du Tourmalet. I have biked the Tourmalet 2 others times, so I know what to expect and that is a very, very tough climb with some gradients of 10.5%. Our group started from Lourdes. 
Before we climbed the Tourmalet, they took us on some nice quiet, but hilly roads to get to the base of the climb. By the time I got to the base of the climb, I had already climbed about 1200 feet. Up until this point, I haven't taken any pictures as the views were blocked with heavy cloud layer and fog. By the time we got to the base of the climb, we would be climbing consistently for the next 17 kilometers. 
At this point, I turned on my music player on my cell phone and stuck it in my camel back. I played Bon Jovi and Beatle music all the way to La Mongie. Others seemed to enjoy the music too. Today, I had Jeff, our guide staying back with me on the climb like he did the day before. I told him, he didn't have to stay with me as I know the road, but he stayed with me. Just like the day before, we stopped and took pictures along the way. 
After lunch, it was time to do the final climb of the Tourmalet. We were in and out of the fog all the way to the top. When we summitted, the sun came out a little and it cleared up enough to get some good pictures in the distance. While at the top, Jeff took a picture of me in front of the infamous Tourmalet sign. Then I saw some cyclists climbing up above the sign to get their picture taken with the statue of a cyclist. Jeff waited for me and took a picture of me with the statue. 
As we made our descent, you need to take it slow as there are drop offs. The Tour will take those descents at 40 to 50 mphs. I took the descent at about 18 to 20 mph. So far, the weather has cooperated and stayed dry. 
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