Ride Day 2: Galan to La Mongie

We have a short day today, only 68 km.  But we are going up the western side of the Tourmalet.  This is an epic climb that the Tour will have been over a few weeks ahead of us (they'll go faster than us, I think).  Short on distance but not lacking for vertical; 3000 m up to the ski station at La Mongie, which is actually about 5 km from the top of the Tourmalet.  But we want to ride the tram to Le Pic du Midi -- an observatory about the village -- that looks fun.  And besides, going up 3000 m with a fully loaded tandem is enough for a day.

This is a double day entry since we had no WiFi last night.

Monday: Galan to La Mongie

After a nice breakfast at the farm house we were anxious to get rolling and headed out at about 8:30.  Another day with great weather – not too hot, but all sunshine.  It was up and down from the start with us riding from valley to valley through beautiful countryside,  We passed  few small villages and decided to not stop for coffee since we’d had plenty back at the farm.  Off in the distance we could see our destination, the Pic du Midi (the peak that towers over the small ski town of La Mongie, where we will stop for the night).

Breakfast at the old farmhouse

Our destination on the day, Pic du Midi

Rolling along

Italian flagged hay rolls

Pic du Midi

We got super lost in one little valley – my gps route differed from Lorie’s.  After some debate we decided that her’s was right, even though it had us going through a barn and corn field!  We eventually found our route and were back on track.

We finally made it to the Campan area, where the Col du Tourmalet starts.  In the village of Campan it seems like every house has stuffed figures of people doing something; farming, fishing, whatever.  I’m sure that there is a story but have no idea what it is.  About 5 km past Campan is the tiny village of St, Marie de Campan, famous because it is the start of the Tourmalet.

A stuffed person in Campan; I am sure that there is a great story there...

Every house has one or two,,,

Onward

We had already gone through 5 bottles of water and needed to fill up, and get some food.  There is a tiny grocery and bar and we filled our bottles and got sandwiches, and took a good break.  There were tons of riders, many with organized groups.  Some were heading up the hill, others arriving back at the base.  We were the only bike with a load of any kind, and we decided that we’d better get going.

Finding our way

There it is, La Mongie and the Col du Tourmalet

Getting ready to head up

There's a sign post each km along the way

The lower slopes were civil and even though we are slow, it wasn’t bad.  There are signs every km that indicate where you are in the climb, and the average gradient for the next km.  The first 4 km were about 4.5 to 5%.  After that, things got a bit more serious with a few km of 8 and 9%.  Then it kicked up to an average of 10 to 11% for the last 6 km.  Ouch.  We had to stop every 30 minutes to take a break.  Quite a few riders passed us and were very encouraging to us – we were going so slowly and obviously working hard.  Riding up on a 7 kg bike is a lot different from riding up on a bike that with all its gear weight over 50 kg.  Ouch again.

One guy was riding down (fast!), saw us lumbering up, and turned around.  He rode up next to us and with a huge grin and some encouragement (I think) he was shooting video of us.  We all laughed and he headed back down the hill.  I guess that he’ll show the video to his bike club gang and they’ll all have a great laugh at the nuts riding up the Tourmalet on a fully loaded tandem, almost tipping over!  Glad we can provide some entertainment!

On the Col.  We stopped every 30 minutes for a rest.

The photo doesn't show how steep it is, about 13% right here

Th road on the left in the valley is the lower slopes

An homage to the Tour de France, which has gone up the Tourmalet about 80 times.  That's our bike resting on the sign.

Looking back toward St. Marie de Campan

A relatively mild final km into La Mongie -- just 9%

The view from our room -- ski hills all around

The village of La Mongie

  

The final 2 km to La Mongie were pure misery.  But we made it finally and nearly tipped over when we stopped at the tourist information center.  While we’re grinding up these climbs I think a lot about a lot of stuff – it keeps my mind off the misery.  How in the world was I lucky enough to marry a woman who will follow me on these trips on the bike up stupid-difficult climbs?  These are rides that I have wanted to do since I was a teenager.  I am thrilled to do them now, and more so, because Lorie enjoys it too. We talk a lot, too, when we can, and we both feel that the best part of anywhere we’ve ridden are the country side and the small villages and the people we meet.  We go to big cities, too, but it is the rides outside of the city that are the best.

We were a bit too late to catch the tram up to Pic du Midi (there is an observatory on top – tomorrow) and we wanted to get into our AirBnB and kick back a bit.  After some hassles with the key box we finally called the owner and we got a spare key and got into the room.  It is funky and small and was already dated back in the 1970s, but it will work fine.

After some much needed rest and about 1 gallon each of water we strolled down to the village to get something for dinner at Carrefour.  Mostly we wanted to get some rest.  Tomorrow we ride the first tram up to the Pic du Midi, then we ride the last 4 km to the top of the Tourmalet and down the other side to a nice hotel that we’re staying in St. Savin.