No pain no gain

Got the morning flight down to Toulouse. After an early lunch I popped the bike in the car and headed off to Foix - weather not too great, overcast and threatening rain. After parking up I headed out towards St Girons and immediately warmed my climbing legs up on the Col del Bouiche which featured in last year's tour. Some 6km in length but not too steep. The road over the other side was busy though and none too pleasant. After around 20 minutes I turned off at La Bastide De Serous and headed up a small road meandering up the valley to Nescus. At around the 25km mark the road started to narrow and head seriously upwards as the main climb up to near the summit of the Portel began (I think it is the climb of the Col de Jouel but I am not 100% sure). The climb was made harder as the road had been regravelled, so that every time I stood up out of the saddle the back wheel would slide under the load. Altogether it was a toughie 12km climbed starting at around 5oom and ending up at 1375m making an average gradient of over 7%. Certainly stopped a few times and not just to admire the stunning views! At the top it was a fabulous wide road down all the way virtually into Foix, some 25km making around 6okm in total. I certainly felt like I deserved that beer!.