Day 6 : 51.02 miles, 5:35 hours, Argelès Gazost
[ MAP ]

Finally got a sleep-in this morning. The two mini-vinos last night may have helped. The day's riding started right into the climb to Col d'Aspin, mostly shaded on the way up, but exposed to the already hot sun near the top.

My LP guide said the Col d'Aspin was the most attractive of the Cols, but I beg to differ, I've enjoyed several of the previous more. My knee gave me big problems for most of the way up, I couldn't help but cry out uncontrollably at times. I had to leave my left foot unclipped as I could no longer twist and release it from the pedal. Some near misses on falling completely off the bike as it is my usual leaning foot when I stop.

It was an awesome twenty minute drop to the small village of Ste-Marie de Campan where I reenergised myself on lunch and fresh water from a fountain there. The first couple of kilometres of the climb to Col du Tourmalet were gentle rolling hills. The road started climbing up through forest and avalanche shelter tunnels to the ski resort of La Mongie. Most of the cyclists that had passed me on my struggle up had stopped at the resort for lunch but I kept going. The heat and knee pains were doing strange things to me. I was getting mad. I had sweat dripping everywhere, salt marks patterns on my shorts and shirt. I kept on growling "Allez! Allez!" loudly to myself, in an effort to spur me on to the top that I could clearly see from four kilometres away. It was frustratingly slow to get there.

About three hundred metres from the top a very old man and his friend slowly overtook me. I couldn't believe I was getting passed by someone old enough to be my grandfather. "Allez! Allez!" I yelled at him and took off in a mad, albeit slow, dash. Head down, legs slowly pushing as much as they could. The old man was way behind, of course he was probably thinking I was a loony. The strange looks on the faces of others that were watching me confirmed it.

I got there.

Later the old guy, Jean-Baptiste and his friend Jean-Michel approached me and we tried to converse as best we could. Jean-Baptiste was seventy one years old with scars on both of his knees, he'd had two knee operations on each! What a legend. I shook his hand and gave him a bow in praise.

Being such a famous climb, it was a little crowded at the top. I tried to get some water from the restaurant at the top but for some reason they didn't have running water at the time. She could only share a cupful of their remaining bottled water for me, which was appreciated.

The road down was quite crappy at the start, quite potholed, but it got better and faster. I thought I had an easy forty kilometre descent but pretty soon strong head winds slowed me down.

Got food on the outskirts of town and headed to the first campground I saw signs for. Just a grassy field with some trees and a farm shed. Nice.

[The hills:
    11.   Col d'Aspin: altitude = 1489m; dénivelé = 690m; distance = 12km; grade = 4% average
    12.   Col du Tourmalet: altitude = 2114m; dénivelé = 840m; distance = 16.9km; grade = 4.5% average]