Well, here I am, back at base at 14.25, 64.4km later. But, wow, what a morning. We rollowed along at a very slow pace for about 22km to Luz Saint Sauveur. There, we took a quick break, and started our way up Luz-Ardiden.
Here's a clip of Lance Armstrong doing it at approximately 5 or 6 times my speed. It's a particularly dramatic clip from the 2003 Tour, especially the first 2 mins.
Wow.
Average gradient of 8% for 12km. A climb to 1720m. It was tough. I came Paddy last at the summit on the day. Me and a guy from Sligo, Hugh, struggled and puffed our way up the climb, finishing 30 min after the first guy in. It became slightly easier as we got closer to the top, as we took breaks nearly every kilometre, slowing to a halt, leaning over the handlebars, and letting the pulse drop down from 180 dwon to around 120 before setting off again. Drank 2 litres of water going up. But, oh, what a wonderful view from the top - a panoramic view of part of the Col du Tourmalet, the Hautacam, and the magic winding path that led us to our summit today.
We screamed down that mountain! I hit my top speed on the bike to date - 72kph - what a thrill!! there were very few cars on the mountain, and those that were out, were more than courteous. It took us just around 20 minutes to descend the 12km again, stopping only for a quick polaroid moment!
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