UPDATED with more photos
We headed out a bit late today, waiting for the weather to clear up a bit. It didn’t decide it wanted to, so we left and went out to climb up the Portet d’Aspet and around to Saint Girons. Along the climb of the Aspet you pass the memorial dedicated to the Italian rider, Fabio Casartelli, who died on the descent of the Portet d’Aspet in 1995. The memorial is very intricate and the flowers that were there were amazing. The rest of the climb was pretty steep. The new gearing helped a bit, but surprisingly my knee decided to work itself out a bit and I felt pretty good for the 8-13% hammer-fest to the top. The Aspet isn’t a “tough” climb in relation to the others on the schedule, but it would make a lot of folks cry back home. The descent down the other side was fun and the finishing cruise into Girons was good. The rain let up as we got to the bottom and we were nearly able to dry out by the time we found a pastry shop at 2:30.
THe catch with French customs is that restaurants are only open for lunch from 12-2pm. You miss that window, you’re on your own trying to find a market or something. That is when they open back up for service at 2ish as well. So we destroyed a pizza, giant flan, and then I went on a pastry bender. Two chocolate eclairs, a chocolate croissant, and something else. I was so hungry that I forgot how I had needed a nature break for the last hour. Then we found a Golden Arches to use the toilet, but then I decided to get some frites. I was still hungry.
The ride back to the hotel from St. Girons was a long, very long, drag as we went up and down the countryside through several villages and farming fields. We had a late start but all in all it was nearly 8 hours out on the road, 73 miles, and 6,000 feet of climbing. That’s a relatively flat ride in these parts. Damn.
Anyways, we move on to the next town tomorrow and we’ll have a fairly big ride of around 80 miles and at least one big Col, the Col d’ Aspin, before heading into the outskirts of Lourdes. Maybe the blessed water there will fix my knee and chode*. Considering the DNA makeup of it has been altered from my saddle.
Off to get some Advil and sleep.
*Not a French word.
