The Ride - Day 2

Day 2 Summary - Lurbe St Christau to Bagneres to Bigorre. 144km. 3,562m of climbing. 8h 30m in the saddle. Absolutely stinking hot! A very tough day......

Paul - in short, the hardest day I've ever had on a bike! 146 kms, over 3 major cols - including the  Tourmalet and the Aubisque. In the saddle for just over 8 hours 30 mins! However, it was the heat which caused us to suffer most, 30 degrees, full sun, little shade. We burned 6,000+ calories during the day and no amount of jelly babies, energy bars or gels can satisfy that expenditure......

We set off at 7.30am and reached the foot of the Aubisque after about 35kms. The climb is 18kms long with some serious ramps up.......plus the heat! Got to the top after an hour and a half climb, soaked with sweat, bright red and hallucinating about French bread and jam. Alix, on the other hand, climbed well and finished strong and fragrant. Enjoyed an Aubisque omelette at the summit cafe - it disappeared in seconds. 

Great descent, then a long drag up the valley road to the foot of the Tourmalet. A 22 kms climb, Alix and I rode together and it took us 2 hours 30 mins to get to the summit.

This was a killer! This was in the middle of the afternoon and the weather really took its toll, there are some pretty steep ramps and with the heat bouncing up off the road, I was just dripping sweat in rivulets constantly. Alix stayed with me, even when we'd slowed to about 7kms per hour, so I was well looked after.

There was a sting in the tail, as the steepest part of the climb is right at the end. The last 2 kms are horrific and when you've done 160 kms on the previous day and climbed two big cols already, this was hard...beyond hard!

The descent off the Tourmalet was also a shocker. By the time we'd had a Coke in the summit cafe, some cloud had rolled in and we had to put warm clothes on to make the descent. So weird.....30 minutes previously we were praying for a bit of shade, then we're freezing on the descent, with numb fingers and bikes shaking as we tried to control them through the shivers we were suffering.

Anyway, back at our next hotel now. Early night again because, guess what, we've got 176 kms to do tomorrow and have 5 mountains to climb! 

So, I know we're painting a picture of toil and pain and discomfort, which is all true (and then some...) but, I have to say, the scenery is stunning, the route is amazing with the iconic climbs and towns we've heard about, the organisation is brilliant and the people we're with are a good bunch.

So it's not all bad!!!

More tomorrow.

Alix - epic ride today. Too tired to write very much, but needless to say, day 2 lived up to expectations. Punishing climbing, dramatic scenery. Aubisque was lovely, but it got very, very hot climbing the Tourmalet (my feet especially. Had to stop and take out my insoles!). Maybe didn't eat enough so had a few 'spacey' moments near the summit, but the feeling when we finally got there was incredible! An amazing descent straight into the hotel car park!