bikes

The Col d�Aspin has featured sixty-six times in the Tour de France and yet is relatively unknown compared to its more prominent Pyrenees partners such as Tourmalet, Peyresourde and Superbagneres. Perhaps it's the relatively �minor� altitude of 1,489 metres that sees it, literally and metaphorically, dwarfed against the Pyrenean giants. This is a pity. Col d�Aspin is truly one of the great mountain climbs of the Tour de France.  I begin the ascent from the east side in the village of Arreau very early in the morning, far too early for any self-respecting French cyclist. Consequently, I have the road to myself. It�s only nine degrees as I set out and Aspin offers me an easy warm-up with the first few kilometres among the forest beside a rushing stream, averaging 4%. The road is much narrower than many Tour climbs and has lovely old stone walls as embankments. I am climbing a historic road, first used in the Tour in 1910. The gradient soon cranks up and I�m amazed at the splendid view...

In 2010, I drove a car half-way up Col du Tourmalet, in the French Pyrenees. It was a terribly misty and rainy day, with the wind blowing a gale. I parked by the side of the road and opened the car door. The wind nearly blew it from its hinges. I scrambled out and took photos of myself, the fool in the mist. I got back in the car, where my travelling companions all agreed we should head back down the mountain. As I reversed out of the car park, four cyclists rode past us, up the hill, into the tumult. What I was scared to attempt in a car, they were doing on bicycles. I looked up towards the summit, shrouded in cloud and wanted to follow this strange band of hardy lycra-wearing crazies. Today, in Sainte-Marie-de-Campan, I have my chance. I�m about to climb one of the most revered and feared climbs of the Tour de France. Not from the side I�d driven up in 2010, because it�s still closed due to recent flooding. I�m climbing the  equally-difficult east side. It was from this side in 1...