A lovely start to the day with a little climb to Saint Vincent Les Forts followed by the stunning 35km long HC climb up through the national park to Col de la Cayolle. This is without doubt one of the most beautiful climbs I have ever done and ends up at 2,236m altitude. It’s never particularly steep but it goes on and on through forests, past waterfalls, over canyon bridges and keep an eye out for marmots! I had the absolute pleasure of riding the last 10km with Ali – the founder of the DashMax. Of course, what goes up must come down and the long climb is followed by a 35km descent – absolutely awesome, very quick and the usual 5 riders led the downhill charge!
As there are no hotels at the bottom of the hill, we had the option of a summit finish or travelling by taxi up to the hotel. I joined 5 other hardy (crazy?!) riders for an extra hour of climbing 800m over 13km with some 14% sections! I picked up Austin at the bottom of the descent and we ground it out together, keeping each other in good mental fetter with amazing support from the team and a well earned beer waiting at the top.
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