Stage 16, Orthez - Col d'Aubisque, 218 km, 16th July 2007

Not much time to write tonight as the stage took us 10 hours of cycling (almost 13 elapsed). It was long, 222 km's, and involved lots of climbing, estimated at over 5000 metres.

Amy, Mark and Kyle completed all, Matt completed the Col de Larrau and the Col de Marie Blanque.....the two hardest.

The HC (and somewhat underestimated) Col de Larrau was first up this morning and was a real pig. Definitely harder that than yesterday's Port du Bales was our conclusion....very steep and rose to 1500 metres from under 200m as it too us over to Spain.

The loop through Spain was interesting and less severe, but another Col at 1750 metres put more stress on the legs (pic on left). We also replaced two tyres today, Matt's rear tyre looked like it had been attacked by Freddie Krueger. We think the melting tarmac that sticks the wheels to the road accelerates tyre wear (lots more melting tarmac today, despite it being much cooler).

The next climb back in France was the Marie Blanque and was described in Cyclosport as being "the most violently sustained steep section of the entire tour". I think we would agree.


With no respite we then tackled the mythical Col d'Aubisque as a summit finish. As we rose through the thickening clouds the landscape took on an ethereal state and eventually after the longest day so far on the tour, we finished with riders emerging from the mists..Stephen Roche style.

This is a major milestone we have reached, as we have climbed our last major climb and descended our last serious descent. The Pyrenees hae thrown their worst at us and we have come through. With less challenging stages to come, barring major problems (injuries, crashes etc) we should be able to complete the 2007 tour de France...it feels like now have a genuine and realistic chance of making Paris with some team members having ridden every single kilometre. We still have major rides to come and in normal circumstances would be serious challenges, but is hard to escape the feeling that the worst is now over.

Kyle took the opportunity to get the paint and roller out on the Aubisque and big up his college or something...not entirely sure what it means but I gather there a bunch of people back in the US who will appreciate the image below. Let's hope it stays intact before the Tour rolls in.

So...must sign off, everybody asleep recovering from another 10/10 difficulty day. A new elevation gain record today, 5755 metres. Believe me, that is a huge amount.

Tomorrow we ride from Pau to Castelsarrasin, a relatively easy 188kms. It is strange to think that in four days time we will be in Paris.......if all goes well.