Race Day: Up Tourmalet

We assembled in St. Marie-de-Campan, re-dressed for our optimum race experience, and prepared for a rolling start up Tourmalet.  Charles, as usual, was prostrate on the pavement, though on his stomach this time and in some sort of active TaeBo mode.  Nel hit her stopwatch and we cranked it up, slowly at first, then with increasing speed.  I had no expectations this year due to my ongoing recovery from knee problems but wanted to put in a good effort nonetheless.  Markham and Charles remained the best hopes for Team Atlanta and the Easties.  Rick and Howie looked to be strong contenders for the Westies.  The first 2 clicks out of St. Marie were easy and we chatted cheerily, but by km 3 the pace had ramped up and guys were rapidly coming off the back, with only Rick, Markham, Charles and myself in the front group.  At km 4, I made a tiny attack, totally false bravado, so I could say I lead the race, then wished my friends good luck and disppeared from their rear view mirror.

We hit the 8-10% slopes and I chugged upward, but before long Bill came to my wheel, then passed me, and I had all I could do to hang on.  After a couple km though, Bill blew and once again I was riding alone.  A km later, Howie reached me, riding his usual measured pace, then Rich, and the three of us yo-yo-ed for a short time before Rich attacked and opened a 20 m gap.  Howie kept to his steady scientific approach, using his heart meter as a metronome, and slowly I slipped back allowing a 20 m gap of my own.  That was the race for me, as the unrelenting 9 and 10% slopes simply pummeled me into a slogging cadence--and I already was in my lowest gear!

Rich and Howie increased the gap as we approached La Mongie and soon I was in no man's land, barely able to see Howie ahead with no one visible behind.  That allowed me to appreciate how utterly ugly La Mongie is and ultimately I decided to stop and share this realization through a photo.  It also sucked that the road never took a break--you depend on a certain flattening of the roadway in a town so, for example, people can get into a garage or turn onto a side street, but, no, no mercy in Mongie.  I suffered badly enough to deserve a result but, alas, only an attaboy awaited me.  It was slo-mo up the last 4 tortuous km and I was never more aware of my lack of training.  The rest of the story is provided by the participants.

Rick set the pace the first 10 km until, 2 km before La Mongie, he faded, leaving Markham and Charles to ride on, mano a mano, see-sawing the lead. Near Mongie, with 5 km, Markham stood up and slowly put down the hammer as Charles began to fade.  Encouraged, Markham gutted out the final 4 km to the finish line, winning by 5 min. over Charles.  Howie, meanwhile, turned up his metronome and began reeling in the flagging Rich, then Rick, and cruised to the summit for the last podium position.

Rich came in fourth, then Rick, Jack, Todd, and others.  So, Race Day 2011 is in the books, and we're once again dealing with the reality that we're not yet Tour-ready, at least not if Tourmalet is on Le Tour again next year.  Tourmalet is a beast!!!

We hung out at the top, a cycling mecca, and enjoyed lunch and the constant stream of other cyclists, for an hour and a half.  After re-fueling, a couple of us talked Jason into driving the van back down to La Mongie to buy some Tourmalet jerseys--nobody was going to ride a bike back up from Mongie!  The others headed down the east side of Tourmalet toward Luz-de-Sauvoire.  The jersey group followed a half hour later and, after 20 miles, we all reached our hotel in Argeles-Gazoste.  The day's talley:  57 mi., 7,155 vert. ft., 1 race, and 22 tired legs.

At the top: Todd, Chris, Markham, Jack

An ass about to get into a fight with a cyclist

Lots of Tour messages still on the road

La Mongie seen from the top

The road down--into the clouds!

The road to our hotel in Argeles was downhill.....

End of the day:  Charles in shavasana?