Europe Revisited: Ride Day 30: Col du Tourmalet and Col du Soulor

We wrangled some internet at, of all places, the top of the Col du Soulor, which was the second monstrous pass that we climbed today. Rather than go back and fill in all the amazing adventures that I was unable to blog about the past few days, I'm just going to jump to present and give you the story starting from yesterday.

We rode from Tarbes to La Mongie, a funny little ski station that is about 2/3 of the way up the Col du Tourmalet. The climb was brutal. There isn't much better way to describe it. On a regular road bike it would be extraordinarily hard. On a loaded tandem, well, brutal.

But we made it slowly but surely and as we rode into the ski station the clouds closed in around us and the temperature dropped. It wasn't cold -- we were sweating from the climb -- so the clouds actually felt good. We stayed in a 1970s era ski condo and it was just fine. We quickly went down to the local bar and got beer and a charcuterie board. Much needed!

Good local beer.

This hit the spot.

The next morning dawned clear and cold. We hit the road about 0800 and the sun was just making over the ridges and warming the road for us. The final 6 km of the Col du Tourmalet were a pretty constant 10 to 11 % grade. There's something to wake the legs up! But we made it OK and got some photos at the top.

We made it. Now the descent down the other side.

Jon and I.

The descent down the other side is insane! Very steep (steeper than the side we rode up, and it was crazy steep) and hairpin turns for much of the way. I kept it very civilized because the tandem can get going so fast that it is tough to stop. We had to stop after the first really steep part to let the brakes cool down, And descending is really tough for Lorie because she can't put a lot of weight on her left arm. At our brake cool down spot we met and Italian guy who offered us coffee. We chatted for a few minutes but had to push on as we were meeting Jon for coffee in the valley, far down the road.

Giovanni, and very friendly Italian guy.

All three of us were absolutely frozen by the time we reached the valley floor along the river. So we got coffee and tried to warm up. But the sun did warm things up in no time and we had a nice ride to the base of our next challenge, the Col du Soulor. This pass is said to be easier than the Tourmalet but Jon, Lorie and I might disagree with anybody who tries to convince us. It was super hard. Steep, long, and hot.

Lost temporarily, but quickly found

The Pyrenees are stunningly beautiful. That's Jon out in front of us.

We stopped for a quick lunch before we started to climb the Col du Soulor

It was getting pretty hot by this time. Cold in the morning, hot by early afternoon

Starting the climb in the village of Arrens

We didn't get many photos on the way up. We were working too hard. But after a long, long climb we made it. Toward the top you have to dodge a lot of animals, sheep, cows, donkeys and horses. It's all kind of fun. We were knackered but happy to have made it. We are staying in a Chalet at the summit and will have dinner there, and a good sleep.