Col d’Izoard - South Side
By Will • Jul 27th, 2006 • Category: Climbs, Cycling
Yikes. After climbing the Col de la Cayolle in the morning (60 kms there and back) I had an itch to climb the legendary South side of Izoard (Doreen and I both climbed the North side on Sunday. It is HARD (rated Hors Categorie) and my legs were bien cuit (cooked) after 6 big days in a row. But we were leaving the region so …. why not. The Tour climbed just over a week ago, so plenty of fresh road art.
I knew it would be painful and it was. I asked Doreen not to drive too far ahead as I might quit. But after an awful first 45 minutes I finally started to get a rhythm and did OK on the last very steep 7 kilometres (averaging +9% with short stretches much steeper). An antique car parade was descending, I could hear thunder as a storm threatened, and my legs were screaming. Net, very noisy. I would have quit without Doreen’s constant cheering and support.
Monument to Cycling legends Bobet and Coppi 2 kms from the top.
The famous Casse Déserte .. almost there!
Woohoo. Am I exhausted. But content. 2,360 metres (Almost 8,000 feet) up.
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Will is Happiest while cycling uphill. More enthusiastic than talented, his 2008 Challenge is to (again) cycle 160,000 metres of vertical ascent.
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