Emotional day

France 20090722

I cried today while riding the bike. Why? Cuz I made it to the top of Cole de Romme—a Cat 1 climb. It wasn’t pretty, I took a hike w/ my bike many times, don’t think I rode an entire km without stopping at least 2 times, but the point is, there are no mountains in Austin and I couldn’t walk on Nov 15, 2007 and I made it to the top of Cole de Romme! You do the math… 8.8 km from elevation of 502 to an elevation of 1297 m! There’s about 3 feet to 1 meter!

I took my pic at 5 km, then again at 1 km, by then I figured I would make it. I did ride the entire last km, stopped at least 3 times! The top was so crowded, I prob inched the bike across. Found someone to take my pic, then went over the line, then started crying.

Race was incredible and in the words of Lance Butler, “…these guys are professional”

Road down about 3 km to a spot above a hairpin turn. I could see the riders coming up (a lot faster than moi) then, I would turn around and take pics. Haven’t looked at the pics yet, but I did get to see the Devil and the Norway chicken. I think overall time was about 2 hours.(I’ll let you do the math on the mph…remember I hiked w/ a bike quite a bit.) It didn’t take me that long to go downhill, ride the brakes the entire time…the thought of road rash to match my 5” x 3” bruise on my butt will slow ya down!

Mt. Ventoux is out of the question, it was amazing how long it took to go 5k and to do that 5 times on a steeper grade, not worth it. Haven’t decided what I will do that day, but it doesn’t include sleeping in, unfortunately, but it does include incredible beautiful scenery and watching Le Tour! Time trial tomorrow! Lots of pics!

Just finished reading an update about Sara, a 27 yr old who stroked 48 days ago, please keep her in your prayers, she's getting better but has a long way to go, but progress is the key and all successes need to be celebrated. Same w/ keeping JD in your prayers. I'm a very fortunate brain injury survivor. Thank you Alison and Mom! love ya!

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this is from another Bike Style rider's blog,I decided i needed to post it here, he does a lot better job describing what the ride was like, I just was concentrating really hard to figure out what all was hoing on!

Wednesday, Jul 22 – Leave Chamonix and off the bus at ten something, one kilometer to the base of the Col Du Romme. Then, bang! 13% grade, your legs and lungs are yelling. You look up at the next corner, think, around this, and it will level out a little, around the corner, and no!Just as steep, maybe steeper. These roads go straight for 200 meters, the hairpin, straight, hairpin, switchbacking up the hill. 2 K or so up, and it levels out, if you consider a 10% grade leveling out. Then thru a quaint little hillside village, locals with picnic tables set up in the yards, set with bottles of wine and linen, or sometimes just some guy in a folding chair leaed up against his porch.. Its only 4 or 5 percent, you’re breathing easy now, then, bang! Back up to 9 or 10. I pass Nick, the pro who rode for Silence-Lotto, sitting on a fences looking over a 500 foot drop, talking on the phone, and he smiles. “Only 3 more kilometers, mate!”, he calls out, and I feel better. 4K later, seeing a 3500M to go sign, I realize he lied. Later I find out he said that to everyone, joking with us. Oh well, it helped. The pros say, never think of the whole climb, break it up into pieces, just get to the next corner, then deal with what comes after that.

About halfway up, the thunderstorms start. Riders head under alcoves or beneath trees. Not me, I’m happy. The heat and humidity has been an enemy. The cool rain and wind brings down my core temp, and I feel more power in my legs. I hop out of the saddle and slog on, up, up, up, up. Around the corner, there is the polka dot sign, “1 Km”. This means the peak, where the King of the Mountain points are awarded is one klick off. Thank God. The crowds are heavy alongside the road, and some cheer you on, “Allez, allez” they yell, and you smile back.

It’s surreal on the top. A Swiss alpenhorn trio is playing, beautifully by the way, in a little café.The wind is now howling and bands of rain are pounding down. There is even some hail rattling the roofs and tinkling off the street. Then, suddenly a hot wind comes through. It’s weird up here, as bunches of riders hit the king of the mountain finish , leap off their bikes, and take shelter in doorways, under alcoves, wherever they can. I see some of our new friends. he is wrong about this next part...it was Michelle, I was maybe at the 5 km mark! [Kim arrives, a woman who had a stroke ten months ago, but has willed herself up this brute of a hill], and I huddle in a doorway with her and Dawn and Deb, a pair of Southern Californians we have met here on the tour. It’s freezing, and I pull on a fleece, rain jacket, and tights, to try to warm up.

Later Gordon, Dee and I link up and discuss whether to descend down the back of the Romme and tackle the Columbiere. We all agree, it’s too dangerous in these conditions, plus to get back to the bus we would have to go back the way we came which means climbing back up the back side of the Romme again. The road which we were going to use to leave form the Columbiere has been unexpectedly closed.

So, we go back down the mountain, stopping near the bottom, where we stand next to a truly scary drop down to the valley floor, and as the Caravan, then the Tour, come through, we run over to the mountain side of the road, so we aren’t bumped off by an errant car or bike. Lance rides by with Contador, but this killer of a climb eventually causes him to drop a couple of minutes. Both the Schlek brothers and Contador get time on him. We pack our booty of polka dot hats and Vittel water and bags of candy and sausages into our backpacks, and descend through the crowds back to the bus.

Col du Romme, 8.8 kilometers, average grade nine percent. Nastiest hill I ever climbed.