I just wrote a post all about the people of that day, which deserves a stand alone. Now I’ll talk about the stuff people normally talk about when climbing cols.

I should have got a shot of the start of d’Aspin, because it’s a veer left off the main road, there’s a sign, maybe even a building. Heck there might have even been a pizza vending machine.

Of course there were cows, but also fans! I see this was a tractor set up. Nice.

It was beautiful, like Azet, but also had fresh road paint! This was a very tidy one, and I think it was done by Louise Vardeman‘s Texan husband.

It wasn’t too crazy long before we reached the top of Col d’Aspin. There was a nice community of cows along with tons of people there. A young woman had been leapfrogging with us and she was doing it on a pretty basic bike with not so easy gears.

That dude holding the forks is Eugene Christophe, winner of the Tour de France, first wearer of the yellow jersey when it appeared, and robbed of the 1913 title. Why? He broke his forks and reforged them in this village, but because a kid named Corni pumped the bellows, he was penalized at first 10, then 3 minutes.

After avalanche “roofs” we reached the town of La Mongie…much reviled for it’s 80’s brutalist buildings. Gerard ordered us to look away as we rode past. Not sure I did that as I would have run into the van.

By the time I got to the finish, they were stopping people 200m from the line, even unicorns. I walked with another rider in our group, Rose, to the finish and the other side, but couldn’t find the sign. It had been taken down and there really wasn’t a good respectful place to put it. Seeing both sides was beautiful and humbling.

“The Giant” statue was up, and all that was left of what is up there to mark the top beyond the store and bar. He kinda looks like he’s seeking something…maybe that sign. I hope to get that photo of the sticker up there somewhere.