Have you ever tried to create the best cycling trip of your life within 4hrs on a Friday afternoon? If so, you are one of the few and you should be proud enough with yourself to strut around town in your cycling kit even without your bicycle. For the rest of us, planning a last minute cycling trip in hopes of it being amazing can be the recipe for disappointment, but, every once in a while the random unicorn trip comes along with a little work and a lot of luck from the mighty cycling GODS. This is the story of one such trip!
Saturday: We left the familiar sharp climbs of Barcelona behind us as the sun was still working its way into the sky. We had a 5 hr drive ahead of us but the thought of being on famous Cols by the end of the day kept us all filled with excitement. Crossing into France the landscape quickly transitioned from a sun scorched reddish brown to a grass covered green. We could quickly here the chime of the ubiquitous cowbell as we drove deep into the land of Tour de France folklore!
We arrived in the town of Luchon just in time to be told we had to wait until after lunch before we could check into our room. No, problem! Grab a quick bite to eat, use the car door to cover our tender bits as we changed into our cycling gear and within an hour of arrival we were rolling through France. First major climb was the Col de Peyresourde, a warm up really for the day ahead that would include the Col de Aspin and the legendary Col de Tourmalet.
Sunday: Col D'Aspin & Col D'Tourmalet The Tourmalet was the true goal for this entire trip. Just uttering the word "Tourmalet" has been known to bring some romantic cyclist to the brink of tears! This is the climb that we all have dreamed of conquering in a spectacular solo break away that would see us pull on the polka dot jersey and eventually win the Tour de France all while being given a lifetime supply of traditional soft artisan cheeses...Ok, maybe that part is just in our dreams, the point is, we had to descend the Col D'Aspin before we could even start to think of soft cheeses!
Descending the Aspin was a dream, smooth, quick and just cold enough to wake us all up. Once at the bottom we filled up with a quick coffee and then it was on to the Tourmalet.
The Tourmalet is broken into two main parts; pre-ski lodge and post ski-lodge. The start of the climb is rather gradual as you climb through picturesque farmland on your way to the steeper switchbacks ahead.
With the first half of the climb now behind us, we made a quick regroup at the ski area before heading up the serpentine roads ahead. It is hard not to feel very small and very fortunate riding on these roads. The Mountains seemed to embrace us with a comfortable sense of pain in our legs, a shortness in our breath and an overall feeling of calm, this is what we came for! We all went up the climb within reach of each other to allow for a bit of individual glory while sticking to the big plan of acting like a team! The big attraction at the top of the Tourmalet is The Giant of The Tourmalet, a statue in honor of Octave Lapize who was the first to ride the Col over 100 years ago. Standing in front of the statue for a quick picture is a must in these parts and is certainly more emotional than standing next to a Michael Jackson impersonator for a selfie in Hollywood.
What Goes up...
Must come down!
And so we did. Flying through the switchbacks was both exhilarating and nerve racking as the tarmac was littered with small waves that seemed like nothing on the way up but when coming down at slightly higher speeds, could offload your wheels just enough to make a small prayer necessary! Once we were past the ski station the speeds continued to climb until the point where we were searching for speed by getting into deeper tucks rather than spinning our legs. Maybe not the best choice since once we got to the bottom of the climb must of our legs were sore from trying to sustain a static aero tuck and with the ascend of the Col D'Aspin ahead, that was not a good thing.
With two days of great riding now coming to a close the group was happy to take things easy up the Aspin. You would think with so much great climbing in our legs no one would be interested in a last minute sprint attack but you would be wrong. We will not mention names but just an FYI, we know where you live!!!
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Credits:
All photos by Svelte Cycleworks and Roger Rilling