For some bizarre reason, despite having had only one brief outing on the roadies in 7 weeks, we decided to ride from Les Cabannes up to the Plateau de Beille today. The route covers 15.8kms and climbs 1255m, making an average gradient of 7.9%. The profile of the climb is like this (click on the image to enlarge it);
Uggh and ouch. Was this a good idea on a day when the temperature was up to 30 degrees?! Hmm. Aw, sod it, let's go for it, we could always turn round if the going got too tough. After 4kms, Andy was struggling in the heat and was just about out of water. It looked like that was the end of his ride. I ploughed on. A passing van gave me the boost that I needed when it slowed down and the lass shouted 'Allez, allez, bravo!' Fortunately, the clouds came over which took some of the heat out of the ascent. However, as I approached the final 3 kms I could see a storm approaching from the mountains.
I could not afford to get caught out. I covered the final section at a good pace. I had reached the top in 2 hrs. I was well chuffed! This was my first 'Hors categorie' climb! I didn't dawdle at the top. I quickly turned tail and legged it back down the hill. To my surprise, 1km from the top I came across Andy who had been revitalised sufficiently by a passing van that had donated some water to be able to continue the climb! He swigged the remains of my water and then carried on to finish the climb. The descent took 30 mins and we made it back to the car before the storm caught up with us. It had been a cracking ride up a climb that I had built up in my mind as being a real beast. Easy it isn't. Do-able it most certainly is! Yay!
Uggh and ouch. Was this a good idea on a day when the temperature was up to 30 degrees?! Hmm. Aw, sod it, let's go for it, we could always turn round if the going got too tough. After 4kms, Andy was struggling in the heat and was just about out of water. It looked like that was the end of his ride. I ploughed on. A passing van gave me the boost that I needed when it slowed down and the lass shouted 'Allez, allez, bravo!' Fortunately, the clouds came over which took some of the heat out of the ascent. However, as I approached the final 3 kms I could see a storm approaching from the mountains. 
I could not afford to get caught out. I covered the final section at a good pace. I had reached the top in 2 hrs. I was well chuffed! This was my first 'Hors categorie' climb! I didn't dawdle at the top. I quickly turned tail and legged it back down the hill. To my surprise, 1km from the top I came across Andy who had been revitalised sufficiently by a passing van that had donated some water to be able to continue the climb! He swigged the remains of my water and then carried on to finish the climb. The descent took 30 mins and we made it back to the car before the storm caught up with us. It had been a cracking ride up a climb that I had built up in my mind as being a real beast. Easy it isn't. Do-able it most certainly is! Yay!
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