Wednesday

Here's today's pic of Daughter of the Day.  We made it up the meat of the climb to the Col d'Aspin this morning with little difficulty other than the climbing.  4 did great.  She's only been actually out on the road for rides less than a dozen times, so today's finish was a great accomplishment for her.  Way to go, Kiddo!

There were a lot of people at the summit.  Many hikers, lots of sight-seers and biker support folks waiting for their riders.  And a widely dispersed herd of cattle!.  They wander all over this mountain.  We actually had to stop on the drive up for several members of the herd to walk across the road to graze on the other side.  Couldn't help but think of Grandpa H and wonder what he might think of the situation.

I place this climb in the category of the Brockway summit at Lake Tahoe (coming in from the Truckee side).  The gradual part of the climb which we did yesterday goes for around 12 miles.  The flight to the finish is around 3.5, all up, at around 7-8%.  Many riders on the hill today.  All passed me.  4 was gracious enough to stay with the tired, old man.

To manage our transportation this AM, we parked at the top of the climb and coasted down on our bikes, and turned around at the base where we had stopped yesterday.  4 had a small problem on one of the switchbacks, running into an example of Rule #1.  And has the road-rash to attest to it.  She popped up like a champ, with scrapes and some mangled handle-bar wrap that I quickly fixed with the electrician's tape that I keep in my seat bag.  She medicated when we got back to the hotel with soap, water and the hydrocortisone cream that I keep in my travel kit.  A little ibuprofin this evening.

The d'Aspin was enough riding for the day, and we needed to get the scrapes cleaned up, so we came back to the hotel, showered and then drove up to tomorrow's challenge, the Col de Tourmalet.  There's a ski village, La Mongie, a couple miles from the summit, and we ate lunch there before going to the top of the mountain.  La Mongie is a very metropolitan place; lots of high-rise condo's, cafe's and ski shops.  Kind of a small Vail.

The Tourmalet Pass is lower than Mt. Rose, but it qualifies as one of the world's most storied climbs.  I estimate that it will take us 3.5 hours to traverse the 16+ kilometers from the base of the hill in the village Ste. Maria de Campon.  (We actually drove down the opposite side of the mountain on our way home, and, while neither side is easy, the other side is a bit less-appealing for general "feel" reasons, so we'll ride up this side.  The distance is basically the same.)

As reported previously on Twitter, dinner was at our hotel tonight in their restaurant, fixed by the owner and her husband.  Really not bad, and we were served very cordially in all respects.  She has good English skills, and I asked (she consented) her to call Air France with me at her side in the AM to confirm the carry-on information/requirements for the bikes.

Again, a travelogue.  Sorry.  To bed for me.  Big day tomorrow.  Thanks for reading.

BCOT