Tuesday, May 27th, 2014
Route Map and Garmin Ride Statistics
As the sun rose over the lake in front of our hotel, the clouds parted (momentarily) and I thin we collectively hoped that today would be dry.
And it was, at least for the first 30km, partly along the side of the dam which probably created the "lake" in front of the hotel.
Just around the bend we crossed a bridge to the other side, still looking relatively fresh and relaxed.
The first town of any size, Mauriac, came after a couple of unexpectedly steep climbs. While the official route went around the town, we needed a break and headed for the "centre ville". There was a 14th century monastery:
And some typical French buildings around the square, as well as the bar we chose for coffee. As is often the case in France, the smokers were indoors chatting with the bar maid, rather than huddled right at the entrance. Either way, the French still have a long way to go.
Ten kilometers later, we started the long climb up the Col du Pas de Peyrol (or the Puy St Marie). The route notes described it as "road begins climbing gently along side of valley". True enough, but 20km of even that gets harder as you go along.
Looming almost menacingly in the distance were some hills (mountains?) with the remnants of winter snow. Could this be our eventual destination? Yes!
But the valley was beautiful, and everywhere there were little villages and houses with slate roofs.
As we "gently" climbed, the snow capped pass got ever closer.
At 56km, about 20km after we started this "gentle" climb, we came to the village of Le Falgoux. A number of our riding companions had already made it this far and stopped for lunch, so it was an easy decision for us to do the same. However, when I'm running out of energy it's Coca Cola (or the local variant) that I need rather than more bread. We all ordered baguettes with salad, but I only ate the salad. This was also the last opportunity to eat before the summit.
The top of the pass got closer, and the clouds still hung above it. In a few more kilometers the "road starts to climb steeply", still 7km from the top of the pass!
And occasionally, the sun even came out.
I used the excuse of taking photos for the blog to get an occasional rest.
With 3km still to go, the "road climbs very steeply"! What this means in English is 15% - too much for me and my road bike gear ratios - I walked those kilometers, as did just about everyone else without mountain bike or equivalent gears.
These hills look very similar to those of the Pyrenees - I wonder why?
But the view back to from where we came was fantastic, even if I was walking at this stage.
And the approach to the summit looked even more daunting as we got closer. We couldn't believe that we had another 250m to climb in just 2km - yep, that is 12.5% average gradient!
But even we wimps get a photograph at the top of the Col! We've earned it too.
Tourists in buses come to climb the true summit - probably a few hundred meters more above the car park, restaurant and souvenir shop.
There they are like ants above what's left of the snow. It was cold enough now, even in late May, so we decided not to stick around. I didn't have full cycling gloves so my fingers got a little numb on the way down. Fortunately, not badly enough that I couldn't use the breaks on the bike!
And just before we started our descent, Fran and partner Mark arrived having pedaled all the way up! We were very impressed.
The run down to Aurillac was described as 40km without pedaling. Well, it was mostly downhill, especially at the start. But the lower we went the more we had to pedal. Along the way were more nice villages and interesting houses.
There was also a very large number of cycling groups out for an afternoon ride. We wondered whether they also rode to the top of the Col, particularly since some of them weren't dressed for the conditions. There are three routes to the top, and we also speculated on whether the Tour de France ever used the one we came up - it's by far the most difficult of the three. There was nothing painted on the road as there was during our descent.
The hotel was in an industrial park, so bar and dinner options were very limited. Nevertheless we got a few beers (rum and coke for me), and had a nice dinner in a restaurant near another hotel.
No comments:
Post a Comment