Day 2 - Hautacam and Luz Ardiden

Rule# 68 - rides are to be measured by quality not quantiy.

Or in other words:

Rides are to be measured by the quality of their distance and never by distance alone. For climbing rides, distances should be referred to by the amount of vertical covered; flat and rolling rides should be referred to by their distance and average speed. For example, declaring “We rode 4km” would assert that 4000m were covered during the ride, with the distance being irrelevant.

So in search of the perfect quality ride we set of on day two. Advice from Rob, the Hotel owner, was to do the Hautacam first as its West facing and gets the sun in the afternoon, where Luz Ardiden is East facing and more sheltered in the lower slops so the sun isn't as bad in the afternoon. This was good advice.

The run down to the start of the climb is 15 miles and about 2800ft downhill - Great. Part of this is through the Gorge de Luz which is a deep gorge with the road cut into the side wall.

Gorge de Luz

At the base of the gorge the valley opens out with a few villages dotted here and there not far down the road the climb starts.

In normal big climb style we soon got in our own rhythm and started to split up. Soon enough we came out of the lower sloops and onto the high pastures where the road sweeps upto the Tour du France finish. After this the road climbs for another mile to the very top and a cafe. We'd spotted a nice looking Auberge on the way up so soon headed back down for a fantastic 15 min descent.

Looking down into the valley 

Station du Hautacam. The top

After a 3 course Plat du jour. We headed off for part two of the day - Luz Ardiden. This climb was made famous (or should I say more famous) when Lance Armstrong was brought down by a spectators bag during the 2003 Tour de France, on the opening slopes. He got back on and went onto win the stage - in true Armstrong style.

The climb starts from Luz St Sauveur so we had to peddle back up the gorge, and then the climb.
About half the climb is in the trees with long straights and the odd hairpin, is only when it gets out into the open that the true awesomeness of this climbs stands out - its a beauty.

In search of rule 68.

This picture goes some way in capturing the essence of the climb. For a better perspective check out the video before the 'day 1' post.

Luz Ardiden - The top.

Another fantastic descent that was over far to soon and we were back in the valley. The temperature had sored to the low 30's and we still had the last climb back to the hotel to do! Only 5 miles and 1700ft to go!

Day 2: 56 miles and 10,500 ft of climbing.