Monday, 30th July
Another day living the dream, although a slightly longer day than planned. A couple of blogs back I mentioned that good ride planning would ensure I could get in all the cols I wanted to do. So much for that idea.
Today was one of my must-do rides because of the Tour history associated with both of the cols, these being the Col de Mente (which went as planned) and the Col de Portet d'Aspet. My ride became unhinged during my planning I had failed to spot an 11km descent down the other side of the Col de Mente into the valley before starting on the shorter but brutally steep Portet d'Aspet (I had thought the Portet d'Aspet started at the top of Mente in much the same way as the Aubisque does so at the top of Soulor - oops!). A quick call to the support crew to let them know I was going to have to do an extra climb (back up the Col de Mente) and would be a while longer and all was well.
The scenery was so stunning that the extra effort was worth it and I didn't want to miss out on the Col de Mente which is infamous because of the 1971 tour, as it was while descending this col in the most atrocious weather that Luis Ocana crashed and then was crashed into by two other riders forcing him to retire from the tour. At the time he had an unassailable lead which was amazing as this was the era of the [supposedly] unbeatable Eddy Merckx who is still acknowledged as the greatest cyclist of all time. The following day Eddy Merckx refused to wear the yellow jersey he had inherited from Ocana because he had not earned it however the organisers forced him to do so. To this day Eddy Merckx continues to take no pride from this win, one of the five tour wins he has to his name. Portet d'Aspet has its own history as it was while descending this col during the 1995 that Fabio Castarelli crashed and was killed. There is a memorial close to the corner so I stopped for a moment to pay my respects. Having now seen and ridden the col it is completely understandable why he crashed where he did. This section of road is extremely steep at 17%, and very narrow and twisty. The place he crashed has a knee-high wall and beyond it simply a void down a cliff so he did not stand a chance. Needless to say my own descending today was rather cautious, the ride full of great scenery and memories of tours gone by, and it was worth the sore legs caused by my somewhat dodgy ride planning.
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