To Climb or Not to Climb

Thunder, lightning and heavy rain overnight but only spotting this morning. The head unit says it was 43km uphill but it’s a bit mad really, because I’m typing this half way down the long descent half way through that climb! It was mostly flat then a steady rise on a newly dip and chip section for about 4km uphill. Happily it was not new dip and chip on the descent. Coming down I came upon this incredible view so stopped for a snack, some crossword and some blog.

On the other side of that village is Plateau de Beille, the climb where Pogačar really showed his dominance at the Tour winning by a minute a week ago today. Famously he rode no handed, opened a bottle of water and poured it over his head whilst following an all out attack from last year’s champion. Ouch. I have all my luggage and it’s not an un-steep climb, but climbing it is not mandatory – it’s a holiday after all. But I’ll see where I get to. It’s not hot today at all, though as I type that the sun starts to peep out from behind the clouds.