July 12, 2016
St-Lizier to Arlos
Over Col de Portet d'Aspet and Col de Mente in the rain
The chambre d'hôte was a good call; it rained all night I think. There were two other guests at breakfast, a Dutch couple, also cyclists. They were also planning to ride Col de Portet d'Aspet but although they left soon after I did and were carrying a lot less, I never saw them.
The route was easy to navigate once I got out of St-Girons, where I'd gone first to find an ATM. Then it was D 618 all the way up and all the way down, sometimes in light rain, sometimes just cloudy. I left St-Girons just before 8 so nothing was open except boulangeries. Happily, there were several villages along the way and I stopped at an épicerie in Orgibet and bought a package of cookies. These I could snack on during short stops. Once I opened them though, they were so good it was hard not to eat the lot at once!
The last village before the real climb begins is St-Lary. This place looked very welcoming and it would have been nice to explore it, but the rain had stopped at that point and I continued past. The last village before the summit is Portet d'Aspet, and 15 km past the Col, is a larger village called Aspet. I didn't go that way, so don't know the history behind these names.
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Descending from Col de Portet d'Aspet, wearing my microfleece and rain jackets and warm gloves, I noticed that my brake levers were bottoming out. I'd noticed yesterday that they were close but had forgotten to tighten the cables, but when I saw the second sign indicating 17% slope, I stopped and fixed them on the side of the road. Then, not that much further, was the memorial to Fabio Casartelli. I was glad I'd taken the time to adjust my brakes and with the steepness of this descent, one can only imagine how fast pro racers might be going.
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At the bottom, decision time: Col de Menté as planned, or stay on D 618 for the lower Col de Buret and Col des Ares. I opted to stick with my plan since Col de Portet d'Aspet wasn't that difficult from the east. Approaching from the west and riding up those 17% slopes would have been a different experience altogether.
Of course, the rain started again once the real climb commenced and continued all the way to the top. About 3 km from the top I was passed by a roadie, followed a few minutes later by his 3 friends. I saw them again later in the restaurant at the summit. One of them had just dropped his bike, whereas I took my Col photo and then went in and immediately changed out of my wet t-shirt and into my dry microfleece jacket (in the WC). This is the first Col I've climbed that had any facility at the top, and I was glad to stop.
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Even though it was after 2, when I asked about food I was offered omelet, frites, salade. Perfect! A café au lait after and I was ready to ride again–downhill. And it was downhill all the way to St-Béat.
With the help of the tourist office in St-Béat, I am staying in something approaching a hostel. I have a 6-bed room with kitchenette to myself. Dinner and breakfast are included and will be brought to my room since apparently there is a large group of kids dominating the dining room. Fine by me. 65€ including wine with my dinner.
61 km; ascent 1487 m; descent 1386 m
Today's ride: 61 km (38 miles)
Total: 829 km (515 miles)
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