Andy headed off to the Alps yesterday to meet up with a couple of mates for some cycling and alpine mountaineering action. Tomorrow he will be cycling up the legendary Alpes d'Huez just before The Tour professioneels ride up there to show them how it should be done. Jealous? Moi? To cheer me up, Pat had the fine idea of tackling the Col d'Agnes from the Aulus side... many people have spoken of the ascent in hushed tones, in a similar way to whispers of the ascent up to the Plateau de Beille. But Plateau de Beille is a HC climb whereas Col d'Agnes from Aulus is a mere Categorie 1 but admittedly with some steep, sustained riding;
We set off in decent time before the real heat of the day kicked in. Massat, up to the Col de Saraillé, down to Ercé and a nice ride along to Aulus where, with the pending challenge in mind, we stopped for some fortifying cake and coffee. Then we hit the road. I was apprehensive.
Steady steady. Granny gear. Just keep the legs turning. The kilometer markers kept coming. I even managed to take a couple of piccys on the 'not so steep' sections! Fantastic views on this ride.
And then there we were. 1 hr 18 mins after leaving Aulus, we had gained 826m over 10.2kms and arrived at the Col d'Agnes. Woo-hoo! I was quite pleased!
We then had a fast descent back to the Etang de Lers and from there to Massat - I hit 60 kmh which is a record! The hill back up from Massat was tedious and I was tired when I made it back to Pissou. The ride had taken 3 1/2 hrs and we had covered 65.5kms in total with over 1000m of height gain. Not bad for a morning's work.
We set off in decent time before the real heat of the day kicked in. Massat, up to the Col de Saraillé, down to Ercé and a nice ride along to Aulus where, with the pending challenge in mind, we stopped for some fortifying cake and coffee. Then we hit the road. I was apprehensive.
Steady steady. Granny gear. Just keep the legs turning. The kilometer markers kept coming. I even managed to take a couple of piccys on the 'not so steep' sections! Fantastic views on this ride.
And then there we were. 1 hr 18 mins after leaving Aulus, we had gained 826m over 10.2kms and arrived at the Col d'Agnes. Woo-hoo! I was quite pleased!
We then had a fast descent back to the Etang de Lers and from there to Massat - I hit 60 kmh which is a record! The hill back up from Massat was tedious and I was tired when I made it back to Pissou. The ride had taken 3 1/2 hrs and we had covered 65.5kms in total with over 1000m of height gain. Not bad for a morning's work.
No comments:
Post a Comment