Stage 10, the first mountain stage is done. It was everything I expected and more, a lot more. I am glad it is over and that I have first hand experience with a Tour de France mountain stage.

I realize now that I should have trained differently. All my training has been done on what is considered here Cat 3 climbs. That did not prepare me for what I am facing. So I am climbing at my own pace, trailing the group on the climbs. We regroup at the top and plunge down to the next mountain.

My Polar reads about 11,000ft total climbing. The stage was about 115 miles. The route consisted of a Category 3 climb (Col D’Osquich 4 miles long), an Out of Category climb (Col de Soudet 13 miles long) and a Category 1 climb (Col de Marie-Blanque (6.2 miles long).

The day started with cool temperatures and overcast. I was actually glad it was not hot. That would have done me in for sure.



We begin the stage and I notice that we start climbing right from the start! Yesterday, when I studied the stage, I figured flat, then Cat 3, flat, then HC, flat then Cat 1 and downhill to the finish. Well in the mountains, it appears there is no such thing as flat roads; you are either going uphill, or downhill. Even the foothills have ups and downs. And not short ones. We are talking hills like Freemont, Taylorstown and 211. They don’t bother to categorize those in the mountain stages.

So eating and drinking is tough. You are always working. I only managed a few photos at the beginning, at one mountain top and then the finish. It started raining within an hour of the start, and the rain would go to a light drizzle which stayed with us for a good while.



The first climb was simple, very similar to Dickey Ridge in Skyline, so that is easy now. Then we continue to work the ups and downs and then we get to the HC climb.






I kept thinking, 13 miles long, that is unreal. And you get to the Col, and there are signs at the start showing you the grades by kilometer, etc. Everything you may want to know (or not). Then as you climb, each kilometer has a marker showing you which kilometer you are on, and what grade to expect for the next kilometer. At times I would not bother to look, I was cooked by mile 5; and I still had 8 more miles to go. One nice thing is that every once in a while, you get over a hump and there is some relief, the grade is almost flat, or so it feels. Not long enough to catch your breath, but enough to give you psychological boost. My heart rate was pegged at zone 5 and I could not bring it down. Only the changed in grade would allow me to go to a very easy gear and try to recover. I started going through those as slow as possible in an effort to recover.

To top things off, the fog was unrelenting. I could not see past 5 ft in front of me. At times, I thought it was better not to see what was coming. I was drenched, it was so misty. I did not care though. I kept telling myself “it could be 90 degrees, this is better”.
Finally I get to the top and rejoin the group for the plunge downhill.






That was bit hairy. Imagine being covered in fog, only being able to see a few feet in front of you. We spread out and we were following the line of the guys in front. We went down pretty quickly, and even with a wind jacket, I was freezing. The difference in temperatures at the top and bottom of the climb are incredible. I was shaking by the time we stopped to regroup for lunch.

After having done all that effort, I did not feel like eating, but I knew I had to eat some sandwiches. So I stuffed them as best I could. We are all wet, so this is nothing like the ideal conditions we have had so far.

Then, without too much of a break riding the foothills, we get to the next climb. This one was going to be hard. The grade starts easy at 4% and builds up constantly, until you get to the top at 11.5%! The 11% grade went on for the final 4KM! The sucker just kept getting steeper. The Col de Marie Blanque is famous, and I know I have seen the pros climb this in TV. They are flying through these turns. I could not believe how fast they can go through this. Definitely a humbling experience.

I finally make it to the top, and same thing, fog everywhere. The decent was also a bit dicey, but clearer so we were going faster even. And when we got to the bottom, we knew the rest of the stage was slight downhill, and this group, which appeared to have plenty of energy left, hammered all the way home. I stayed at the tail of the paceline, not having any interest in showing my face out at the front. I was done for the day, eager to see any signs for Pau, the finishing city.



I finished the stage about two hours ago, but still feel my chest. I have not felt like this since my racing days. When you finish a hard road race, or crit and you have this feeling in your chest for about an hour or so. And I was crawling uphill.

My massage is done, and dinner is served in about 30 minutes. I hope I can sleep tonight. I hope I am not too tired for tomorrow.

Tomorrow is about 30%-40% harder than today. 5 climbs. Oh the mountain stages, they are brutal. They have both the distance and the difficulty. I hope by some miracle I feel stronger tomorrow. When the mechanic came by a little while ago, I asked for a fresh pair of legs. I hope he can deliver.