Thirty five miles, 5,171 feet. The ride was shortened from the
original 86 miles to a planned 58 miles due to rain. The main climb,
two really, cut from the day were the Col du Soudet from the begining of
the day's stage and the Col d'Apanice which would have been the third
climb. Sandwiched between the two climbs, and kept in the ride in an
on-the-road decision, was the Col de Bargargi. That Bargargi was one
tough mutha. It was only 9km and change, about 2,689 feet in 6 miles
for an average of 8%. Unfortunately, the first couple of kilometers are
kind of tame. Many climbs in France have a set of signs counting down
each kilometer (0.621 miles). Included in those signs is the average
percentage gradient for the upcoming kilometer. In the case of Bagargi,
the last 7 kilometer markers were a series of 10%, 12.5%, 13.5%
gradients. The last one at 7.5% was a such a huge relief by comparison!
For
some reason, the Relive.cc overview isn't working, I think due to some
corrupted data that's since been fixed. Why was the data corrupted?
Because my bike was in the back of the support van for the last 23
miles. According to the original Strava data, I was a super stud for
those 23 miles, stealing a bunch of KOM's (King of the Mountains--it's a
Strava term to describe the fastest time for any particular
segment--even if it doesn't involve mountains).
Why was my bike in the back of the van?
Because of this little corner:
It had been raining since we got over the top of the Bagargi. It
rained most of the descent off the other side. It would be a great
descent if it had been dry. Very steep. Very fast. Because it was wet
we were all taking it pretty gingerly. Maybe too gingerly in my case.
The road was still wet and, coming around this turn, I either still had
a brake engaged (a big no-no once you've entered a turn, wet or dry),
or I ran over a leaf, or a spot of sheep poop, or maybe I took the
corner a little too close to the apex and the wheel just couldn't hold
the road at the angle it was being asked to do. Maybe it was a
combination of a couple or all of those things.
Whatever
it was, one moment I was taking the turn and the next moment I was on
my ass. I didn't slide much. Too bad I didn't. I didn't get any road
rash. I did tear the elbow of a $150 rain jacket I'd bought the day
before in anticipation of the rain. THAT sucked. I have a big ol'
strawberry on my hip, but the impact didn't rip my shorts. My right hip
took the full impact. . . remember I didn't slide. At first I didn't
think I was hurt. I was stunned a little bit, shocked that I had gone
down. I stood up. Picked up my bike. I checked my back pockets for my
camera and phone that were in my back pockets, I thought for sure I'd
smashed them. They were okay. I walked over to the guardrail and sat
down. When I went to stand I could tell something was bad. Allan
Reeves had me do some movements to check if it was possible I'd broken
my femur or pelvis. I could do well enough in those maneuvers to dispel
any fears of at least a significant fracture. The group talked me into
getting into the van for at least a few miles, to the bottom of the
descent, and then maybe I could get back on the bike and finish the
ride. While walking to the van the the pain set in. I could barely
walk--I couldn't walk unaided. I couldn't put any weight on the right
leg. Putting weight on the leg, taking weight off the leg--both hurt.
It was OK only if it was not moving. I was a bit worried at that
point. Something was seriously wrong. It turned out I had fractured my ischial tuberosity--a set of bones I'd never heard of before. Basically the sit bones.
We had an x-ray
taken on Sunday in Biarritz, came back negative for fractures. I will
have to call Dr. Holthouse's office when I get back to see if anything
further looks need to be taken. It's a little better today, 48 hours
later, but I still can't walk without crutches. So. . . I'm bummed. I
missed out on 23 miles on Day 11 and 35 miles on Day 12. I missed 1,000
miles by 24. I missed 100,000 feet by 161 feet. Because of two
rain-shortened days, everyone missed the 1,100 miles and 110,000 feet of
climbing, but not by as much as I did. Get the kleenex.
I rode the remainder of the day in the van with Jeff Dux.
The original expected totals, my totals, and the group's actual totals:
