Tues 24th May : I have to find the smarty pants who decided it would be fun to put a 1200m climb just 2 kms after todays stage start! Arrgh... Talk about opening up the lungs and legs quickly! Bought three new tubes this morning from the local bike shop. Hope I do not need them. So stage 9 - just 106kms - just he says.. and two climbs. Not at all an easy day on the bike - and this after yesterday?. (Can someone out there reading this please remind me again why I signed up to this three week torture session?) Climb # 1 was the Col de Portillon out of Luchon and at the summit we actually left France and were back on Spanish soil. Then after a awesome winding descent and I think about some 25kms in another beautiful Pyrenean valley we started climbing the Col de Port d La Bonaigua that took us up to over 2100m again! It was a long steady gradual climb but still tough. The pic above shows the valley we went up doing the second Col today. Pretty is'nt it? The climbs were not so difficult but again like so many of the Pyrennean climbs - they are just grinds for cyclists. Its like this- get a small gear, get a rythym or tempo going, focus on the breathing and get the heart rate steady and not too high. Yes and most importantly drink and eat at regular intervals wether thirtsy or hungry or not. Above is a pic of me just getting to the top of the Col de Port d La Bonaigua at 2100m. So in total 4 hours & 29 mins riding time today. The gut was a bit better today though I still felt just a little washed out as such but the climbing legs were somewhat better again - thankfully. No punctures today. Weather was again stunning as you can see in the pics. And hot everywhere except the top of the climbs. In the valley heading down to Sort - it was 35 deg C. Tomorrow Chris and I are going back to ride in group # 3 for the stage- they average around 25 kmph (so far we have been in group # 1 which averages some 28 kmph) Group three is just a little slower on the flat and the climbs and tomorrow is a tough day - 140 kms and some nearly 3000m of climbing throughout the day. We just want to take care of ourselves on this long-hard day and not blow ourselves to pieces trying to stay with the slightly faster lads. A couple of kmph less on the flat and mountains will make a lot of difference to getting through the day in reasonable shape.Tomorrow we ride from Sort through Andorra back into France again and say 'adios' to Spain for the last time. Time almost for our 8.30pm dinner. Not possible earlier say the Spaniards - siesta time and dinner with the family come before feeding a hungry bunch of cyclists apparently...
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