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Day 4
I believe there are people in this world who are confused about the word “vacation”. I am with 5 such people. There are these climbs called “cols” that these boys are so excited to experience. The ranking system is as follows: Cat. 4 = rolling hills, a pleasant day out for a ride. Cat. 3=ouch that's putting some burn in my legs.
Cat. 2 = Ah hell, my legs just seized up. Cat.1 = so steep and painful to ride I'd rather be at the ballet. Then there is the Colls that are ranked HC. These are so steep they aren't rated. I have no idea what HC stands for, however if I were to wager a guess it would be the French equivalent of “Holy #@%*” which is equal to “well boys, get out your climbing harness, we are going straight up!” That is what they rode today. The first was a Cat. 3 called Col de Quillane. The second climb was HAIRY. It was a Cat. HC named Col de Pailheres. I'll say it was beautiful, I drove. I wasn't in pain. I leisurely got out and took photos. Suffice it to say, I can't believe no one threw-up at the top. I wondered if my van was going to. Not only did the boys not throw up, they seemed happy and I kid you not, ready for more. Well ladies, you may rest easy knowing your warriors in spandex did you proud. The crazy freaks.
There were some consequences to this ambitious day. After dinner Jason couldn't get his hamstrings straight for a few minutes. He walked like an arthritic old man. I thought both Clark and Gordy would beg off and sleep on the floor rather than climb the second flight of stairs to their room. Greg and Evan looked perky enough, however both were having amnesia brought on by fatigue. Greg lost the keys to the car, and felt that was “distressing”, He never remembered going back to his room where he'd left them. Evan just took on the look of a very confused person, startling when addressed. I'm sure tomorrow they will be perky as pie.
Route: http://www.bikemap.net/route/692397
Millage: 82 miles
Elevation Climb: About 10000 ft
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