Le Col du Tourmalet

It's September 2022 and we are staying in Bagneres de Luchon for two weeks in the center of the Pyrenees. Because of its location Luchon has been a host town for the Tour de France on more than thirty occasions and there are many famous TDF climbs in the area. This year the big one will be the Hors Catégorie climb the Col de Tourmalet, with my nephew Jacques. The Tourmalet has been climbed in the Tour no less than 87 times so we will be riding in the tracks of the greatest riders of all time.

Our plan was to do some easier climbs first to find our climbing legs but after the first climb, the Col de Portillon, the weather did not look good for the following week so we decided to attack the Col de Tourmalet two days later.

We are doing the east to west route starting at Bagneres de Bigorre and ride up to Sainte Marie de Campan, the official start of the Col de Tourmalet, where we stop for coffee. From here to the summit is about 11.5 miles with 4160' of climbing at 7.4% average and 12% max grade.

Enough with the statistics, it is a beautifully clear but hot day. I put the bike in the 34/32 gear and grind away at the climb. I usually climb at about 1500 feet per hour (it used to be more!) and take a short break after each 1000 feet vertical. Three and a half hours of climbing requires a lot of patience. I watch my heart monitor. I can maintain 85% but 90% is not sustainable so then I have to back off. It is not a good day for me, I can still feel the the Col de Portillon climb we made a couple of days before - remember I live in the flat land called Florida. It's tough knowing you should be riding better but we grind it out with a couple of breaks before reaching the the ski resort of La Mongie.

Taking a break with the Pic Du Midi in the background

There we stop and sitting at an outside table have a beer in the sun. The chairs have cushions which is not insignificant! It is now just 2.5 miles at 8% to the summit. Up we go, I feel better, probably a combination of knowing we have it beat and the beer. A quick stop for a picture at the 1k to go sign, where we are encouraged by some cows, then finally the summit and there are our wives Jocelyne and Marie-Claude to cheer us on - a special day.

The Summit with Jacques

We do the photo stuff and descend to Luz St Sauveur where we have a nice lunch together. Then Jacques and I will make a big loop back to Bagneres de Bigorre. No way we're going back over the Tourmalet!

A Little History of Le Col du Tourmalet

In 1910 the Pyrenees were included in the Tour de France for the first time at the insistence of Alphonse Steinès who investigated the climb. 

Steinès started at Sainte-Marie-de-Campan with sausage, ham and cheese from the inn opposite the church and arranged to hire a driver from Bagnères-de-Bigorre. They made it up the first 16 km when the car broke down. Steinès carried on on foot despite a warning about bears. Later he mistook voices in the darkness for thieves but they turned out to be shepherds guarding their sheep. He paid one of the them to guide him to the top but the shepherd turned around when they encountered snow.  

Steinès continued on but things looked bleak. He had slipped and fallen into an icy stream and realized he could freeze to death in the night. Fortunately search parties had been sent out and he was finally found stumbling in the snow around 3 a.m. and taken to Barèges where he sent the following telegram to Tour de France organizer Henri Desgrange.

 "Crossed Tourmalet stop. Very good road stop. Perfectly feasible".

In 1910 Octave Lapize was the first rider in the Tour de France to crest the Tourmalet. He called TDF organizer, Henri Desgrange, "the assassin".

 

For route and ride information click here:

Royal

Royal Park

I'm riding west on CR222 to Royal with a club C ride led by Dave and Cindy Taylor. Just before the end we turn left onto CR235 and ride down to Royal Park on the left. The park is the site of the original Royal schoolhouse and grounds and we are here today for a talk about the history of the community of Royal.

The community, originally called Picketsville, was founded in 1865 following the Civil War when General Sherman's Field Order No.15 allocated 40 acres of land to all Freedmen (former slaves). Freedmen from the Old Green Plantation on the Withlacoochee River moved to the area, claimed the land and managed to keep it despite the fact that later in 1865 President Andrew Johnson rescinded Sherman's order.

SLBC club members learn Royal's history

By the late 1880s the community was known as Royal, and established industries were farming, logging, and naval stores. In 1874 the first one room school was built and by 1891 there was a US post office called Royal. Royal today is one of the rare communities where many of the 1,200 residents are descendants of freed slaves and proudly live on the 40-acre parcels their ancestors first settled 150 years ago.

Royal Park was created following integration when students in Royal were transferred to schools in Wildwood. The old school building was torn down and the grounds used to create a park with recreational and community facilities. All that remains of the school is the old cafeteria which was renovated and is now a community center and museum.

Cycling through it, Royal might not look like much but it is rich in history and one of Florida’s oldest African-American communities.

For route information click here.

Caesar's Head and the Assault on the Carolinas

If you want an idea of what it's like to climb one of the great Tour de France cols without travelling to Europe then head up to the Caesar's Head climb on Hwy 276 in South Carolina. It's not Mont Ventoux but you'll climb 2100 feet in 7 miles at an average gradient of 6%. It's not a steady gradient as it has an easier section midway up which gives you a chance to recover for the steep sections and hairpin bends ahead. Add in some narrow parts and a rough road surface and you have a very European climb, at least George Hincapie and Lance Armstrong thought so.

George Hincapie's hometown is Greenville SC about 25 miles away and Caesar's Head was one of his favorite climbs in his Tour de France days when he would train on it regularly with Lance Armstrong.

A good way to see the area and climb Caesar's Head with other riders is to enter the Assault on the Carolinas which is held every year in April. The spring classic takes over the host town of Brevard NC and has a limited entry of about 1200 which usually fills up before Christmas. If you're feeling flush, you can stay at Hincapie's boutique hotel "le Domestique" near Greenville which is the base for the Gran Fondo Hincapie in the Fall, another great way to see the mountains of North and South Carolina.

Hincapie and Armstrong's bikes at the Hotel Domestique

There's a lot more good riding in this area. For road bikes the Blue Ridge Parkway is great and gives you access to Mt Mitchell which from the Ashville Folk Arts Center is an out and back ride of 66 miles with 7000 feet of climbing. For mountain bikers the Dupont Forest has spectacular waterfalls and well kept trails which cater to all levels. The Holy Grail of mountain biking, the Pisgah Forest, is also close by for the elite rider.

For AOC route information click here:

Following Fausto Coppi

The Stelvio Pass in northern Italy is the second-highest paved mountain pass in the Alps climbing 6,140 feet in the 15 miles from Prato allo Stelvio to it's summit.

Fausto Coppi on the Stelvio in 1953

It is August 2019 and I am there to ride in the tracks of one of my heroes, Fausto Coppi. It was on the Stelvio in 1953 that the legendary Italian cyclist made one of his most famous attacks. He dropped the race leader, Hugo Koblet, by three and a half minutes on the climb to steal the maglia rosa and secure his fifth Giro d'Italia victory. Now, the highest peak in the Giro is always known as the "Cima Coppi".

Each year on the last Saturday of August the Stelvio National Park closes the pass to all traffic except bicycles. This is Stelvio Day, when 12,000 cyclists descend on Prato allo Stelvio to climb the Stelvio then descend the Umbrail Pass in Switzerland to the alpine village of Santa Maria on their way back to the Prato.

Passing an alpine village.

We are staying in Santa Maria and it is from there I start my morning with the easy 13 mile gradual descent to kilometer zero in Prato. Then the fun starts. 

Climbing the wall

The first 5 miles are the easiest, with an average gradient of around 5% but this changes when I get to the first hairpin bend #48 - what the? I thought Alpe d'Huez was tough with 21 corners. Oh well 47 to go and from here on up it'll be a steady 8% with some steep bits in the turns.

Looking back down the pass.

It's going to be a long climb at 8% so I shift into my lowest gear 34/32 early and ride steadily with those around me. No heroics. We count down the corners as they go by, there is a water station, I stop from time to time to munch on Clif bars and take pictures. The weather is perfect and the scenery is magnificent. On the big climbs I always wear my SLBC club jersey - the one with "It's just a hill get over it" printed on the back pocket. As usual it is good a conversation starter and brings a certain amount of humor to the climb.

Looking ahead you can see the summit from here.

Four hours after leaving Prato and 6000 feet of climbing later I have passed corner #1 and shortly after find myself in a bicycle traffic jam as the summit is blocked by riders trying to get their picture taken under the summit sign. I pass on the picture and make my way around them on foot. It is cool at the top and will be cold on the descent, I buy a t-shirt and put it on under my jacket, buy a coffee and take some pictures. Time now to ride through the old customs post into Switzerland and down the Umbrail Pass, remarkable for its lack of roadside barriers, back to our hotel in Santa Maria. 

Cima Coppi - the summit.

It is Sunday morning after breakfast and as we leave the hotel we hear the singing of the Swiss Alpenhorns in the mountains. We look around but they are not to be seen, only heard. A magical ending to the weekend.

A little history: The Stelvio Pass was already in use in Roman times by merchants trading goods between Switzerland and the Duchy of Milan. In the early 1800s the Italian province of Lombardy which included Milan had become a part of the Austrian Empire and the road over the pass was built by the Austrians to defend Lombardy and increase trade between Milan and Vienna.  Completed in 1825 it took 2,000 workers 5 years and up until the Great War it was kept open in the winter by an army of shovelers so stagecoaches could pass.

A plowed out Stelvio Pass for the 1973 Giro d'Italia

Currently the pass may be closed by snow as early as October until late May which is why it is not always included in the Giro d'Italia as an alternative stage must always be planned. 

For route information click here:

When I'm 80

Never play the age card. Never say "I'm getting too old for this." If you do then I'll guarantee no matter what you had planned that somebody younger than you is going to say they've heard about some 80 year old guy who did it a couple of weeks ago. Of course they've never met this guy, not one of them has, and certainly no one knows his name but they all know about him and they're all more than willing to make sure you know about him too. 

Well, I'm tired of this guy who always seems to know where I'm going and what I'm going to do and goes there and does it two weeks before me. So I have a plan. In 2026 when I'm 80 I'm gonna be that guy. I'm going to go back to France and climb the Tourmalet, Mont Ventoux and Alpe d'Huez again. I might not be quick, each climb might take me all day but I'll get it done. 

And you know those decals that cyclists stick all over the summit signs, well I'm going to have my own sticker that says "Congratulations from the 80 year old guy that did it last week."

Having done that I might buy an electric bike  - but not before.