Cent col day 5: col du buggery

The last day before our rest day and a few people are starting to struggle. Colin (day one crash) got back on his bike yesterday which thrilled everyone but alas he only lasted the morning before jumping in the sag wagon with a migraine and still very sore wrist. He's now gone home, he'll be back next year. Today Jenny made it till lunchtime before conceding defeat for the day, Kelvin had had a worstening knee all day before being told to stop by Phil at 4pm - Kelvin has been one of the superstars of the trip but he could have really injured himself badly (overcompensating etc) if he had kept going. We were all rooting for him and it broke my heart when he came past me in the Doctors car. Scott was also struggling with general fatigue and was stopped at 6pm.

On the subject of support it really has been fantastic. Phil rides the whole course and generally keeps an eye on the tail of the group or with anyone he has particular concerns about - he's very good at differentiating between someone like me who isn't all that fast but will (given enough hours in the day) get to the end without need for support and some other people who may be ahead of me but are struggling (either mentally or physically) and need support. Having a doctor on the course at all times may sound excessive but we are in such such remote areas that it could make the difference - Colins crash happened in the middle of a populated area but sometimes we go for hours without seeing a house or person - the Doctor also acts as the "sweeper" ensuring that everyone is accounted for - a sensible measure.

Anyway, back to the cycling. Big big day ahead, 18 cols with 4,700m of climb - everyone very apprehensive leaving today because the 30km descent I just talked about at the end of day 4 - yup, we were going back up it by a slightly different route - a mammoth 1,400m (almost a mile) vertical climb up to Col de Pierre St Martin. After missing a col on day two (knackered by the heat) and another on day three (too damn slow to finish before dinner time) I was determined to finish today but I knew with the amount of climbing it would be a little touch and go. The doctor told me at lunchtime to stop "breathing my bread" which I think meant to slow down and eat it rather than trying to snort it...

Lovely picture taken by the Dr of Dave and I at the top of Port Larrau.
















Into Spain for a few hours and back out again onto the Col Du Bagaurgui - or, as it has been christened by many riders - the Col Du Buggery. It was, frankly, really nasty bitch of a climb, it just got steeper and steeper and steeper. And steeper. And a bit more. And one last little bit. Trust me, after 900km and 2 vertical everests in your legs the very very last thing you want to see is this - next km at 13%. 13% sounds like a small number - trust me, it's not, it's really horrible.




















One last col of the day, Col du Burinolazte, a very rural climb up into the mist. Another real tough climb, not helped by being in thick thick cloud - at least if you can see the road ahead you can mentally prepare yourself for a real tough bit but when you can only see 20 metres it's pretty annoying to suddenly find yourself going from a 5% cruise to a nasty 15% ramp without warning (oddly enough everything below about 5% now feels flat - and anything flat feels downhill, it's a really strange sensation). Descending down the same is also pretty "interesting" - full brakes all the way down (which you have to be careful about otherwise you overheat the wheels and can explode the tyres which is not want you want happening at 50km / hr aproaching a hairpin in a mountain...), picking your way down very slowly.

So then at 160km the work was done, just a 40km cruise home, or so we thought. Except that it was now getting dark and Dave didn't have a front light and my back light stopped working earlier in the day - we were told in no uncertain terms that we were not going to be allowed to continue if it got dark (which I agree with) and if the sag wagon caught us we would be in it. I have never been in the sag wagon in my life and I sure as hell wasn't going in it today either. Both Dave and I "rode like we've never ridden before" - it was an odd sensation to be looking over my shoulder not at another rider wondering if I can hold them off but to see if there was a set of headlights on a van bearing down on me - we both made it back (just...) and won the daily "courageous rider" award for our efforts. Rest day tomorrow, well earned...

Summary - 200km, a mammoth 5,000m of ascent over 18 cols.

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