Day 7: great fun and fantastic views

10 years ago I was here. Today I felt stronger!

Almost exactly to the month 10 years later I’m back to the Aubisque. Day 7 was quite uneventful. We climb the last 4 kms of Tourmalet and finally I got to stop there to take pictures. The other 4 times I climbed this mountain it was in a race and we couldn’t stop. The funny thing about the last kilometers of Tourmalet is that is full of animals: cows, goats, donkeys and even alpacas 

From there it was a long descent to the foot of the Col du Soulor, the first full mountain of the day. The descent was full of cars, motorbikes and cyclists. I still dont have the hang of the new bike and I am going down too slow for my own taste. It is very frustrating. 

The climb to Soulor 16 kms st 8% average gradient was a straight forward business. I kept my heart rate around 152 which is the rate I feel I can sustain for a long period. I tried to stick with Paul but he was too string for me. He, Dave and Aaron just took off and I completed just a couple of minutes behing. Maybe even less. 

From there we climbed the Col d’Aubisque, one of the most beautiful ever. It is a short climb from the Soulor side, only 6 kms and it brought me good memories when we stayed around this area in 2014 as preparation for the L’Etape du Tour. The descend of Aubisque is quite fast but because it wasnt soo busy I felt a little more safe. But way slower than my usial. I really miss not bringing my dura ace C24 wheels, that I can really rely on. 

During this descent there was a nervous moment when my bike went into wobble mode. It is s common event and can bring a rider down really fast. It happened right after I hit a pothole but I managed to correct it. 

The rest of the ride of around 40 kms was a long winding rolling hill road. First Dale and I took off very fast and we cover around 15 kms very quickly. And after regrouping with Cliff and Paul (they were held by a car when we took off) we rolled just for a little bit before taking off again at full speed. This time I was getting tired and stayed behind the 3 guys. It felt like racing at full speed. Great fun doing corners at high speed as the roads were perfect. 

Sadly my Garmin ran out of battery and didn’t record this last stretch. It is showing I did 110 kms instead of the actual 130. Gotta check why.  Tomorrow is second rest day and time for the laundry to dry. (Which is the ritual of every day: wash the kit by hand as soon you do your own shower).

Enjoy the pictures.