Stage 8: Tomblaine - Gerardmer
Stage 9: Gerardmer - Mulhouse
Stage 10: Mulhouse - La Planche des Belles Filles
The Vosges, the other mountain range in France than isn't the Pyranees or the Alps. Three truly amazing days of riding where I was really tested mentally and physically, and which ended with me standing at the top of a massive hill, hugging a fellow rider, with a massive grin on my face (and then riding down said hill in bucketing rain, hopping on a bus and getting a two hour transfer to our rest day hotel, unable to sleep because my quads were cramping up, all part of the fun).
Stage 8 was another morale boosting day. It was a long day (225km), with two Cat 4 hills at the end. With the benefit of the hindsight of Stages 9 and 10 I laugh at the Renee who was worried about those hills, but at the time it was quite a concern to do two small climbs with 200km in the legs.
I say morale boosting with no sarcasm, because I have loved these long flat (by flat I actually mean incredibly lumpy) days, where I can get in a group with guys I can't stick with on the hills and just chew up some kilometres. I think I gained some extra fitness on these days because I just had to get my head down and really work hard to hang on, especially up the rises (and then zoom past everybody on the descents).
Where Stage 8 was a rainy slightly miserable day, Stage 9 was a scorcher (for English people) or quite temperate (for the girl from the Territory). It was a day with six categorised hills, including our first Cat 1 (non-cyclists, hills are categorised by some magical formula that takes into account their length and gradient, a Cat 4 is the lowest, Cat 1 the highest, and then HC which stands for uncategorisable, or really really f-ing hard).
But the severity of Stage 9 was just a warm up for Stage 10. The day opened with two Cat 1 climbs, the first being through light rain and mist that sometimes limited visibility to 50m. The first decent of the day left me miserable and cold and actually looking forward to the next hill. We were so fortunate with the weather, a day meant to be pissing rain the entire day ended up only pissing rain for the last few hours.
The crowning glory of Stage 10, and my biggest Tour accomplishment so far, were the last two climbs (Col des Cheveres and La Planche Des Belles Filles). Both Cat 1s and both incredibly hard. The Cheveres had an incredibly steep incline for 3km. Darwinites, imagine climbing the High School Hill for 3km. After already climbing 2 Cat 1s, 2 Cat 2s and a Cat 3 and cycling about 150km. The Plache was less steep, but a 9km climb in pouring rain is still interesting.
A few things got me through. Stage 2 in Yorkshire saw me got off the bike to walk partway up hills about 10 times- I was just mentally broken. Stage 10 only had me stopping on climbs to eat, catch my breath, or wait for my climbing buddy. Things that got me through:
- Breaking it down: 10km is just 20 Swains Lanes. I know it sounds cliche and trite, but even the biggest obstacles can be chipped away at one step, or pedal, at a time
- My buddy Katrine-Mari. We stuck together all day, joked, chatted and had a tear when we summited the last climb of the day
- The tour staff. The support staff on the tour are amazing. The physios (who I continue to mention because they have kept my legs and back on working order through 10 gruelling days, and because one of them is surely George Clooney's Scottish brother), bike mechanics, masseurs and drivers work even harder then we riders keeping us fed, encouraged and happy.
The country in this part of France is amazing. We are close to the border of Germany, and the influence can be seen in the house, mountain names, and Hansel and Gretel style forests that line the mountain roads. The first time the mountains rose up in front of me was daunting and amazing- when you appreciate their beauty and feel a shiver of fear go up your spine knowing that you will somehow get your bike up there.
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