18 July 2012

New Zealand Road Cyclist contributor Jim Robinson is on tour in France checking out the Tour de France with Karl Woolcott. Karl has run specific trips tailored around the Tour for three years and judging by Jim's reports they're nothing short of "brilliant"!
So far they've ridden Col du Chat, Col du Grand Columbier, Col du Mollard and various unnamed rises in the road.

Here's Jim's latest update from the heat of battle:
"Unless something strange happens, tomorrow's TDF stage is going to be hot. Scorching. Today was a pearler, early 30s in the valleys, and tomorrow the mercury will likely rise further. We pedaled out from Lourdes, past Bagneres de Bigorre and up the mighty Tourmalet. 17km of climbing, with many kilometres in a row at 10 percent.
"Gee, it's spectacular though, starting in forest, and rising into open grassland, with cascading water at several stretches below the road. The tarmac itself was today ablaze with a rainbow of riders, literally thousands of them, climbing, struggling, sweating their way to the top. La Mongie was packed, the summit even more so, hundreds and hundreds of riders jamming the road and soaking up the anticipation of tomorrow.
"Over the top and heading towards Argeles Gazost, the side the TDF will climb, there are camper vans on every available space. Whatever some people say about this tour being a Sky shoe-in, the crowds are undeterred. The tour is bigger than any one rider, and it's bigger than even the race itself. It's not so much the winning, as the experiencing."

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