Ascent of The Tourmalet

On waking, I did what I always do on holiday and went straight to the window to peak behind the curtain and check the weather (sad brit eh?). Overcast - perfect for climbing a mountain.

We had breakfast in the hotel with all the other brits who were on etape duty. We were all very polite and there wasn't an awful lot of chat - probably nerves ahead of the big day. I got kitted up, loaded up the car and off we went.

As we got closer to Lourdes, the sun was peaking through the clouds and by the time we arrived at Campan, the mountains were bathed in hot sun - a little worrying because that always notches up my HR a few beats but it felt really lovely and warm and it was really enjoyable to be in France again on my bike.

As I cycled up, I could hear a noise coming from the rear. I wasn't sure if it was my gears or crickets in the fields. Soon, all became clear as a guy, dressed like my dad when he does his gardening, came squeaking past me on his heavy mountain bike. I always feel a bit of a fraud when I'm sat in all my gear and I get passed by people wearing clothes covered in paint! There was nothing I could do about it, I was doing 4mph, my HR was already over 120 and I was getting a bit hot. Just keep it steady woman and you might just make it up here.

Colin did a great job as my rider support - he went ahead and stopped at regular intervals, taking pictures, offering loads of support and occasionally dousing me with water from mountain waterfalls which you could get to from the road. My HR wasn't behaving though - I was really struggling to keep it low, even when I was cycling at 2.5mph. You can see on the graph that it really does go up very suddenly over 200 on a few occasions.

I love the elevation line on that graph. The climb was amazing - just constant gradient all the way. Completely unlike Alpe D'huez, with it's small areas of flat at each hairpin. I was really enjoying it but with those huge HR spikes, I was starting to fear that I'd have to surrender. My breathing started getting very laboured at one point and I had to take a breather - my HR stopped registering and started to think seriously about calling it a day. Flies were all over me and I just felt so low. I stood there just trying to compose myself and get my HR down again but it took a long time. As I came to a snow shelter type thing, the clouds started to come onto the mountain very quickly. I could see Colin ahead, ready to take my picture again and I waved at him to stop. I was crying and I didn't really want a picture of that. With 6km to go I realised that it would be better for me to stop than risk the HR going up again. So after 9 miles and two hours climbing, Colin packed the bike in the car and we drove to the top. I slumped in my seat, eating a go bar (yuk) and finishing my drink.

The Tourmalet was just unbelieveable. The road in La Mongie was so steep and it just seemed to wind up and up, steeper and steeper until we got to the cafe at the top. The views up there were stunning. It was great to be there and for Colin to see what he would be doing the following day. As we stepped out and took the obligatory pictures next to the statue, a guy came up from the other side of the mountain, fully loaded with touring gear!

We drove back to Pau and I was in a low mood. At that moment, I hated bloody France! I had a long shower, lying down in the bath holding the shower head onto my own head and just sat and warmed up and started to feel a bit more normal again. We had lunch in Pau in a superb restaurant and I started to feel a bit more like myself again. We sat next to a bunch of brits who were riding the etape the following day. They declined beer and coffee as part of their preparation-now that is dedication. Colin prefers to live life on the edge :-) so it was a grande biere for him.

In the evening, we visited Neil Pedoe from Cycling Plus magazine who was going to be riding on a bike he'd never used before! clearly another risk taker. We sat next to another group of cyclists who were glugging a couple of bottles of red - theory being that their normal Sunday runs were based on a foundation of good red wine so why change the habit of a lifetime. Good on 'em.

Our own night was spent searching for pasta but ending up with carpachio and prawns, getting locked out of the apartment and then struggling to sleep with the thunder and lightening. With the alarm set for 4.45am, we eventually hit the sack and tried to get some sleep before the big one.