Col de la Ramaz, Col de Avoriaz

Andy Schleck winner of the Stage
The racers coming into the fininsh.

I always wanted a free polka dot climbers hat.

The Col de la Ramaz.

Ty at the top of Col de la Ramaz....sweat dripping down his chin. Didi the "devil".

The "devil" a tour icon.

The mountain is of Ramaz, prior to climbing.

Today we did the same two Cols (mountains) that ate up the pros. Two Category 1 climbs in the same day. WoW!!!!! After the second Col, where we watched the stage finish, we headed down the mountain and another 35 clicks (kilometers) including a 6 KM climb, finally arriving at the hotel a little before 10 p.m.

First we climbed to the top of Col de la Ramaz. This was about a 3300 foot climb. On the way up, I noticed the tridents on the road and sure enough I was able to snag a personal photo of Didi the devil who has made his appearance since 1992 (I think) in the tour. The first half of the climb was gentle by pro biker standards at about 5-7% grads. Then we found out why was a brutal climb and got especially sharp as we entered the famous tunnels which you would certainly recognize from TV. In the tunnels it kicked up to 14% and was consistently 8-10% grade. I believe this is where Lance was dropped yesterday. I took a few pics along the way and had to stop for some water. The Brits were nice and I figured they spoke English. They offered beer, EPO and water and of course I asked or all three. Then off to the sumit. Ouch. Along the way we had thousands of people encouraging us. I don't know why I didn't get a lot of pics. Too busy climbing. We hear Bravo and allez, allez, allez a lot, which sounds like ollie, ollie, ollie. Then a nice descent and the ascent of the Avoriaz. I figured at this point that I had made a mistake trying to tackle 2 CAT 1's in the same day.

The Avoriaz, another CAT 1 climb of over 3000 feet. In all 8200 feet for the day. I had to stop and get water from a nice couple from Seattle. It was 90 degrees in the Alps at this point which made the climb absolutely brutal. It was so cool going under the kite banners marking the distance to the finish and feeling like a pro cyclist on the tour with thouands yelling for us. The last KM was so tough as at this point I was out of gas. Since we were on the TDF route, Trek couldn't support us with any rest stops or van support.

The atmosphere was a lot like the SuperBowl. Unbelievable, just unbelievable. I am going to post some extra pics. Anyway, I was the fastest descender of the group. Certainly NOT the fastest ascender as there are some monster bikers. A lot with Carmichael or racing experience, including one CAT 2 racer. I think gravity might have had something to do with my quick descent. That and a no fear mentality.

Well, tomorrow it is the bad boy known as Col de Columbiere and we are climbing from the hard side, the same way that the tour will climb on Tuesday.

Tailwinds....

Ty