Pyrenean Dream
Have you ever wanted to ride a Tour de France Queen stage? Well here is one of our dream rides, which would not look out of place in a Tour de France. Try four Cat 1. and a Hors Categorie climb. Try 150km and 4500m of climbing. Challenging climbs, sweeping descents, pretty Pyrenean towns and all day riding. Ready? Well here we go
Crepes are their own food group – right?
We start our Pyrenean expedition from the beautiful little town of Bagneres-de-Luchon. This is such a pretty little town with a sprawling boulevard, lined with trees, that extends through town. So often the scene of a Tour de France Stage start or finish, Luchon is French cycling born and bred. Lets check our bidons, pop food in the pockets and check the map.
Col du Peyresourde is our place for crepes
We hit the climb immediately after passing the cemetery on the limits of town. The Peyresourde is a testing climb for everyone. Its not the steepest and its not the longest, however it is one that is going to excite you straight from the gun. Don’t get sucked in to going too hard – remember this is a big day.
Col du Peyresourde is 13km-ish and averages about 6.5%, but this climb is more than about the numbers. It has the quaint little towns, that dot the lower half with beautiful botanical displays during spring and summer. It has the lovely view across the valley in the upper half of the climb. Don’t forget switchbacks which give the greatest view of the race unfolding on race day. And then of course do not forget the crepes at the summit cafe. Good or bad – you will love them after that climb.
We roll out again and head off down the descent toward our next major stop in the town of Arreau. The upper slopes of the Col du Peyresourde are the steepest and we will build up speed quickly. Principally this descent is a series of sweeping bends, with sprawling lush green fields in the upper slopes, before we reach the relative comfort of some tree cover in the mid-sector of this descent. We have a couple of switchbacks as we reach the town of Louderveille, before we continue on at lower gradients, passing through a few towns before we role into the small town of Arreau.
Arreau is a beautiful little town, sprinkled with hundreds of years old stone buildings, in the Louron Valley. Now is an important opportunity to top up our bidons or grab a bite to eat. We are in for a long day and it will be vital that we stay hydrated and fueled. Might be a good chance to grab a baguette from the bakery. Our day will not be enjoyable if we don’t look after ourselves. We look to the northern horizon and roll out to the other end of town and the Col d’Aspin climb.
Col d’Aspin and the sweet sounds of ….. cow bells
We turn off the D618 and join the D918. A kilometre into this 12km climb, the road narrows, the tree canopy overhead closes in a little and the gradient starts to climb. It doesn’t take long and the sweat starts rolling down the back again. We have climbed this climb on a TdF race day and its awesome. Plenty of spectators road side, cheering us on or offering us a beer or a local sausage in bread. The international Bunnings delicacy. However there are none of this today. We can hear the breeze in the trees. Plus the clicking through the gears and breathing of the bunch. Off in the distance the small echo of the odd cow bell. This is bliss.
As we approach the summit, the sounds of cow bells are becoming far and away taking centre stage, with grazing cattle wandering the fields and carpark at the summit. The view from here is nothing short of amazing. In one direction we look back to where we have come from and the mountains that form the other side of the Louron valley dominate the view. We look away to the north and we can sense the monster of the day Col du Tourmalet on the horizon.
We need to keep moving, so bid Au Revoir to our new bovine friends and commence one of the nicest descents in the Pyrenees. With the exception of a handful of mid-descent switchbacks, the road is relatively straight with small sweeping bends. The views are nothing short of beautiful. We remind the bunch to look up and take it all in. Smell the Roses (so to speak) as we never know if we will see this day again.
We wash off a little speed as we approach the town of St. Marie de Campan, because we know we have a tight left hand corner as we hit the centre of this tiny little town. St. Marie de Campan has a strong presence in Le Tour folklore, but we will return to that a little later.
Welcome to the ‘Circle of Death’
The Col du Tourmalet is one of the most famous mountains in Tour de France history. This mountain was part of the 1910 TdF, being added at the encouragement of the sporting newspaper L’Equipe editor, Henri Desgrange. L’Equipe was the sponsor of the Tour de France and Desgrange wanted to raise the bar for the race, to ensure the readership of the paper remained high. The only problem was, perhaps the riders were not full understanding how hard that stage would be.
“Vous êtes des assassins! Oui, des assassins!’
The stage was known as the ‘Circle of Death’. Yes marketing has not really changed in 100 years. The stage included several epic climbs including the Col du Peyresourde, Col d’Aspin and Col du Tourmalet. During the race of this stage Octave Lapize, who would go on to win the entire race, saw some Tour officials as he crossed the summit of the Col d’Aubisque. He yelled at them “Vous êtes des assassins! Oui, des assassins!’ (‘You are murderers! Yes, murderers!’) and with that the legend of the TdF climbing days was born.
We return to the present and we look up the road that we must travel to the summit of the Col du Tourmalet. The sign by the road as we commence reads PAIN. An Omen? No pain in French means bread. Might be a good reminder to have something to eat on the lower slopes of this climb.
It is a great day to Tourmalet
Tourmalet is a climb in two halves. Our first half is a meander up the lower valley, passing through the little towns and the farmland that dots along our route. There is a sense of forboding as we get toward the end of the valley as the gradient will rise to an average of 10%. We pass into the tree line again and we get a little respite from the Pyrenean midday sun. We stand and dance on the pedals as we swing around the switchback, that signals a change in gradient for the remainder of the climb. A quick bite and another drink now, as it gets more difficult from here to the summit.
We continue to tap away, breathing heavier than we have so far today. We get a little more respite from the sun as we pass through some snow tunnels. There are no spectators to cheer us on today. Just the odd vulture flying up on high, some meandering goats and a couple of tourists who can’t read the map. On the horizon we can see the ski village of La Mongie, our next point of respite today.
The things you see in La Mongie
La Mongie is different things to different people. For some it is the opportunity to take some respite from the climb. Grab a bite to eat and a drink while recharging the batteries. Others feel it is a bit of an eyesore that looks out of place on this wonderful climb. For me often its a chance to grab an espresso. That little bit of a kick to knock off this next 4kms.
As we roll out of La Mongie, we are dodging the goats and donkeys wandering across the road. The gradient here is unrelenting. Its 10% without change. We hit 2kms to go and the sheep are wandering on the fields used for centuries of grazing in this region. Our bunch chatter has petered out as the air becomes thinner and the summit is in sight. Rolling across the summit is a real achievement. Smiles all-round. We are halfway, and after a bite to eat, top up of the bidons and we are ready for more.
Homeward Bound
Now as the sun is moving across the sky into the afternoon, we should get moving again. We commence the descent carefully, as the upper sectors can be quite speedy. Now I mentioned I would return to folklore a little earlier and now it is time. In 1913 Eugene Christophe was in the lead of Le Tour as he crossed the summit of the Tourmalet and commenced the descent toward St,Marie de Campan. Approximately 7kms into the descent he broke the fork on his bike and had to walk the remaining 9km of the descent. Upon reaching town, Christophe had to find the local Blacksmith, so he could borrow the forge and fix his bike, as outside assistance was not allowed in the early days of Le Tour. Hopefully we will not need to do the same.
Keep an eye out for the wandering livestock and wandering tourists as we pass through La Mongie. Also watch out for the cow manure in the snow tunnels, where the livestock have taken refuge from the rain or cooler nights. As we regroup on the lower slopes the grins have been replace with smiles all-round. Its important that we make sure we get some water and food into us. ‘Pain et eau’ = Bread and Water. We have two climbs remaining on our dance card and some baguette or a slice of pizza from the local café will hit the spot. There is a little fatigue, so a bit of a stretch might be in order. The sun is getting a move on and so should we!
Three down and two to go
We commence the Col d’Aspin, from the other side. Col d’Aspin is a beautiful climb. Our bunch is still chirpy and the banter returns to what we embarked on as an epic day. It’s a great chat, that distracts us from the pain in our legs and the niggles in our backs. However it doesn’t distract from the spectacular landscape.
We have wandered up the climb, through the little towns, and again we start to hear the cowbells above us up the road. Please take the time to check out the towering mountains that rise toward the sky. We reach the top but being late in the day the cows have actually moved on to take shelter for the evening or for daily milking. We pause momentarily. We have conquered four out of five summits today. Our gaze is draw across the Louron Valley, toward the final climb of the day Col du Peyresourde. We move on and navigate our descent back to the town of Arreau at the base.
One climb stands between us and a shower… and a beer
Wow, we have completed 120kms and 3500m of climbing so far today. We will have burnt thousands of kilojoules in the process. Lucky we have been keeping up the fuel and the water. Without them we could not do this at all. As we look up the D618 road in the late afternoon sun, our thoughts move to a warm shower. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves as there is one climb standing in our way.
We commence the climb and the bunch are a little tired. You look across and everyone is willing themselves and those around them up the road. This climb is not short. It’s nearly 20km. It starts out as a gentle roll, even though every pedal stroke is now harder than it was this morning. We get back into the tree line and the shadows are starting to get longer. We are over halfway and continue to chug down the water from our bidons.
We emerge from the forested region again to the upper half of this climb and back to the landscape of sprawling fields. In each of our minds, we are all ticking off the kilometres to the summit. We continue on and the road sweeps left and right. On those bends where we need to turn left and sweep back in, we catch a glimpse of the summit. Each time it is getting closer. Eventually we reach the top. All smiles, hugs and back slaps. That’s five mountain passes and 4500m completed. Just a descent into town to bookend the day.
Mission accomplished …. Nearly!
Our bodies are tired, our kit is salt stained, our bidons are low and our pockets are full of empty bar & gel packets but our spirits are sky high. We are still very careful on the descent. It is the easiest way to ruin a great day. Crash on a descent when you are very fatigued.
Our thoughts turn to that warm shower again. Maybe a cold beer, or two. A big hearty French meal and a fluffy pillow to put our head down on tonight. We are not there yet. We get a wave from the locals in the town of Garon as we are laughing and chatting about some of the stories of the day. A few more kilometres to navigate and we roll back into the Luchon town limits. What a day. What an incredible story to tell!
To check out your way of joining us on some or all of these climbs sign up for our French Connect – Pyrennes tour.
