Marika's Tour de France

Stage 08 - Andorre-LaVieille to Saint Girons - 176.5km

Stats: 185.03km, 10hr 23min
Average speed: 17.8, Max speed 59.42

June 13th, 2009

My day started with trying to scrape the tar off my bike. We’d planned for another early day as we had two category ones and a category two ahead of us over 176.5km, so it was impressive to see nearly everyone assembled in the car park before seven on only four and a half hours of sleep.






From inside came some screaming and what I thought was an entire jar of marbles bouncing on the floor. Turns out Robert had blown a tyre before we’d even left so we waited for Robert to fix it up and then got on the road.

The deal was that the guys would ride with me for the first week and then after that I was on my own. Today was the first day of riding by myself. I have to say it was really brought home when the guys screamed out of the car park then faded into the distance. Unfortunately for me and my support car (poor John and Nance) the first car had all of the maps and the GPS and the boys were long gone. We pulled over and tried to find our way, then tried calling them, then again looked for road signs till eventually we found where we thought we were meant to be going. By pure luck we ran into them at a roundabout that had a statue of a big bottomed bike rider to which someone likened to me. From then on I worked my bottom off (not because of the previous insult) but trying to keep up with the guys so as not to get lost again.




I’d lose them on the down hills and work hard to catch them on the up hills. My heart rate was hitting 191 and when we’d stop for a break I could barely speak but I was not going to get me and the support car lost again.


Before long we started the climb so I relaxed a bit knowing that we’d all meet at the top. This climb was Port d’Envalira, the highest climb of the Pyrenees sitting at 2408m above see level. I relaxed back into my rhythm and made my way to the top. It was 23.2 km long but averaged at 5.1% so it didn’t feel daunting. A few happy snaps at the top, Rob pumped his tyre up again, which seemed to be leaking slowly and we headed down again.


A few k’s down from the top we came across a ski resort which had public toilets. These were so rare we all decided to test them out. I somehow managed to be ready before the guys and we decided it was best for me to head on as the guys would no doubt catch and overtake me on the downhill.

After almost 50k’s of straight downhill with no sign of the guys I was convinced I’d taken a wrong turn and pulled over. Five minutes later they showed up and we regrouped with me quietly proud of myself and kept going.

Half way up the category two we stopped for lunch. We’d done ninety k’s which meant we had 86.5 to go. Quite good for us.

We continued climbing Col de Port, where at the top we found so many cows and people milling around.




I’d just missed Damian and Dale who’d already descended, but Robert came up after me still having trouble with his tyre’s. I went on ahead and he fixed his tyre. It wasn’t too long before he was overtaking me on the downhill and then me overtaking him as his lone bike suggested a pit stop.

I found the guys sitting at the little town Massat eating an icy pole waiting for us. The cars temperature gauge was indicating that the temp was 36 outside. We waited for Robert to come down. And waited, and waited some more. In the end Nance and John headed back up the mountain and we made the executive decision to keep riding with the other support car.

Our final climb for the day was the Col d’Agnes, category one, 12.5km at 6.5%. We hit the bottom and the guys went on ahead promising to meet me at the top. John, Nancy and Rob overtook us in the car letting us know that Robert’s bike was going to need some work and they’d meet us back at the motel.

I felt this climb. It wasn’t overwhelming or impossible, I could just feel that it was a tough slog. So tough in fact that I fell off twice. The first time trying to find a good place to park the second because it was so steep I literally couldn’t force my foot around any further and before I knew it I was lying sideways on the road still mounted on my bike, still clipped into my pedals.


I must have looked an absolute sight to the car that came over the hill. They stopped to ask if I was OK and I somehow convinced them I wasn’t but they moved on. My poor pride.

I found Tara and Jase at the top waiting for me. We took photo’s and enjoyed the feeling of finishing three climbs in one day.



We couldn’t see the guys so Tara and Jase headed on and I started the descent…and then the ascent. Apparently I was only half way up the climb and had celebrated prematurely. I continued on and met the guys at the real top.


It was much cooler at the top and we enjoyed a break and the stunning views before starting the descent. It was one of the toughest descents for the tour so far. There was a lot of gravillons, it was extremely steep and I again spent a lot of time pulling over decramping my hands from breaking so heavily.


The last part of our day was down hill the whole way and we really enjoyed rolling freely to our hotel and chatting along the way, proud we’d finished another mountain stage.