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| Real course profile, photo from the briefing |
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| Start area in La Seu d'Urgill with Team Black Widows in pink. My roomie Caroline is on that team. |
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| I'm in the first wave of riders, off - photo Hauteroute.org |
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| One of our first climbs. See, I'm not the only one that stand climbs! - photo Hauteroute.org |
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| Four women in a good working peloton (me in blue jacket) included Laetitia and Valerie - photo HauteRoute.org |
At around 25 km, the grade leveled out to a nice 5-6% where I upped the pace. A few guys followed. I had no idea if the girls were joining in. The grade then zipped up to 8%. I now had to stay at the guys' pace.
We worked together to the top, then I
followed a couple guys down. The descent was fast, with wider corners than
the Alps.
Once we hit the bottom, the next 35 km was
rolling slightly climbing with a headwind. A good peloton gathered with riders along the way. I took a
few pulls though knew better to keep sheltered to recover for the next climb.
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| the switchbacks with headwind - photo hauteroute.orb |
When the 8% climb started, the peloton was weary in general. The pace was manageable yet my breath rate was high. I stayed with them until 8 km to go to the 101 km mark and the summit of Port de La Bonaigua. My breathing was pretty loud as I worked hard amongst the guys.
Dropping off that pace to my own workable breath-rate, I had
to face the headwind on my own. Fortunately, the switchbacks could be seen in
front of me and the scenery would take my mind off my weariness. I even saw the
most wicked waterfall seemingly falling in slow motion.
As I was
2 km from the top, a strong Swiss guy came by. I managed to stay on his wheel
to the summit. I was lucky to have him to follow on the descent at blazing speeds 74.5 kph.
The final climb to Plan de Beret was on my own. It was only another 6 km then a 1+km flat section. A few switchbacks helped.
I was surprised to see many horses loose grazing. They were short and stocky, and were entertaining to watch as I climbed. Some crossed the road in front of me like the elk and sheep at home (or in the Okanagan). The last km was welcome with a fast slight descent.
I stopped at the feed table and sipped some coke. When I turned around, I was surprised to see Marina just finishing. Apparently, she had a flat early in the race, had to work a lot of the sections on her own, passed the Ski Mountaineer Girls on the Port de La Bonaigua.
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| photo hauteroute.org |
I stopped at the feed table and sipped some coke. When I turned around, I was surprised to see Marina just finishing. Apparently, she had a flat early in the race, had to work a lot of the sections on her own, passed the Ski Mountaineer Girls on the Port de La Bonaigua.
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| Squeezing in the middle! |
The finish was at the top of a desolate ski
resort at this time of year, the 2nd largest in Spain, Bacqueira de
Beret. An awesome lunch was provided. After lunch, we still had a 22 km descent to ride to our host
village of Vielha.
Quite a few racers offered their congrats as they had seen my wicked climbing technique in action and working! (failed abit first few days at the Alps)
Ended up I
am still 21 seconds away from Marina’s total time. She was super strong with her
ride today.
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| photo out my hotel window |
Shared my
winning prize of local foods with a few racers at the briefing…. Local Beer,
amazing sausage, a scary jar with a picture of a pig on it assumably pork pate,
a local honey!
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