Exhausted
From where we are, one can easily begin climbing towards Tourmalet, Gavarnie and Luz-Ardiden. Since we had climbed the first two, I decided to try the last one. Maybe I could ride all the way up.
Luz-Ardiden is a climb to a ski station. The summit is at 1720m and the climb begins at 700m or so. So, only one kilometre to climb! The official street sign claims that the average steepness is less than 7%.
Well, I thought that such a climb would be not that hard. I had good breakfast, applied suitable amount of sun screen to my legs hands face and set of. It was warm, about 31C.
The first few kilometres went ok. The climb was 9%, no problems for me. I reached the last small village before the forests. The road got steeper and steeper. Suddenly it was 11-12% all the time. The frequent hairpin provided some relief.
The relief was not long lasting. The road remained steep, my already tired legs got emptier and emptier. I was slowing down. Whereas in the beginning I was climbing the 11% sections at 7-8 km/h, suddenly my speed was down to only 4-5km/h. I knew there would be another 7 km to climb. It was going to take a long time.
At one 12% section I decided it was getting dangerous. I was so slow that keeping my balance was not easy, if at all possible. I gave up and turned down.
The descent was scary. So fast, so many hairpins. I am not a good descender.
Just to make sure I was really exhausted, and not just a lazy ass loser, I decided to ride up towards Tourmalet for some 5 km. It turned out to be really hard. I was - and still am, after lunch and some good wine - totally exhausted. It has been really good two weeks of training.
Today we will return the bikes. Tomorrow we will stay here in Luz St Sauveur. On Tuesday we shall move to Lourdes and then to Nice. Maybe some cycling over there as well. At least there are some mountains beckoning me there.
EDIT the day after: it seems that I was getting sick and that is why I could not climb. Strange fever, headache, stomachache kept me up all night.
Luz-Ardiden is a climb to a ski station. The summit is at 1720m and the climb begins at 700m or so. So, only one kilometre to climb! The official street sign claims that the average steepness is less than 7%.
Well, I thought that such a climb would be not that hard. I had good breakfast, applied suitable amount of sun screen to my legs hands face and set of. It was warm, about 31C.
The first few kilometres went ok. The climb was 9%, no problems for me. I reached the last small village before the forests. The road got steeper and steeper. Suddenly it was 11-12% all the time. The frequent hairpin provided some relief.
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| A view over the Tourmalet valley |
The relief was not long lasting. The road remained steep, my already tired legs got emptier and emptier. I was slowing down. Whereas in the beginning I was climbing the 11% sections at 7-8 km/h, suddenly my speed was down to only 4-5km/h. I knew there would be another 7 km to climb. It was going to take a long time.
At one 12% section I decided it was getting dangerous. I was so slow that keeping my balance was not easy, if at all possible. I gave up and turned down.
The descent was scary. So fast, so many hairpins. I am not a good descender.
Just to make sure I was really exhausted, and not just a lazy ass loser, I decided to ride up towards Tourmalet for some 5 km. It turned out to be really hard. I was - and still am, after lunch and some good wine - totally exhausted. It has been really good two weeks of training.
Today we will return the bikes. Tomorrow we will stay here in Luz St Sauveur. On Tuesday we shall move to Lourdes and then to Nice. Maybe some cycling over there as well. At least there are some mountains beckoning me there.
EDIT the day after: it seems that I was getting sick and that is why I could not climb. Strange fever, headache, stomachache kept me up all night.
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