Day 4 -Lourdes to Bagneres de Luchon

Sadly dinner last night was slow and insufficient so I headed through the tourist masses to find gelato..

Despite the completely knackered body with delightful leg cramps, I slept fairly well although had to get up at 2am after drinking so much water!

Lourdes looked very beautiful in the morning light, such a weird place, but definitely very popular.

The morning talk was all about the 3 huge cols to climb and the importance of continually eating and drinking - I set off feeling decidedly apprehensive.

The first 35km were relatively flat, back along the bike path riding in a little peloton and trying to keep my effort level as low as possible.

At the bottom of the Col de Tourmalet, I forced myself to eat as much as I could and fortunately it was only 21c so much more in my comfort zone. I paced myself and really enjoyed the climb, I was so happy to reach the top without any issues after yesterday’s sufferfest.

The descent was so much fun with woolly obstacles to weave around.

Col d’Aspin was the next big climb which started mostly in the shade with a benign gradient. Unfortunately, the shade disappeared, the temperature climbed to 31c and the gradient hit a prolonged 8-10%, sufferfest was back.

I made it to the top with a few pauses in the occasional shaded parts.

It was an improvement on yesterday as I didn’t have to lie down in the shade, but I felt too sick to eat lunch at the top and decided to do the descent then hitch a lift up the Col de Peyresourde. It felt like cheating to get back on the bike at the top but I loved the descent!

We are now staying at a lovely hotel in Bagneres de Luchon for two nights and tomorrow is a rest day so I felt like I deserved this..

Despite my cheeky lift in the van, it was still an epic day on the bike.