Day 3 : 21st June : Luz St Sauveur to Betran

This stage is 110 km (75 miles) with 2 big climbs. The first is the Col de Tourmelet, the best known iconic climb of the Tour de France at 17km long to an altitude of 2115m.

My legs are now showing some cumulative effects. In particular the quadracepts ( big muscle that runs down the front of your thigh which is balanced by the Hamstring on the back of the thigh) which are now tender to the touch. Once you start pedalling though, they are fine.

Early slopes of the Col de Tourmelet

From the hotel we rolled along for about 20km to the base of the climb. The sun was getting stronger - this is going to be a hot climb. Started steadily and found the going OK for the first 5km.

Some of the stunning scenery on the Col de Tourmelet

The gradient ramped up then but still felt good. With about 7km to go things started to get very tough. No shelter from the heat but with a couple of ¨"confidence" stops I made it to the top in 2hrs 11mins. Nice rest then a long fast descent. You don't get the chance to do over 40mph on a bike for 10 miles very often so I went for it. Exilerating, reached 47mph a couple of times and had one slide round a corner which I went into a bit hot which was a bit of an adrennelin rush !! (Still alive Chloe).

Me at the top of the Col de Tourmelet

After lunch we climbed the Col d'Aspin. A shorter but quite testing climb which I ripped up. Well impressed with myself !! The descent was awesome. Fast, scenic and with lovely combinations of corners. Also there were loads of other riders so spent the whole descent in overtake mode. It's immensely rewarding getting your line right and outbraking slower descenders into corners. Caught another fast rider and we had a great "race" to the bottom which I won, and shook hands.

The group got together and we set off on the 40km ride to our hotel in Betran. Big headwind for first 10km and the quick guys on the front set off at a cracking pace. Us mere mortals just hung onto the train at 25mph. It's best to keep in the tow even if you are going this quick as toiling into the wind is a lot harder. Riding 10 inches from the rear wheel of the guy in front gets the adrenelin pumping and you need to be alert.

Dropped off the peloton after we turned along with a few others and we formed our own peloton for the remaining 30k to Betran at about 18mph.

The wind was a sign of a weather front moving in and we started to get some light rain as we approached Betran. Expecting some dodgy weather tomorrow.

Slept better and was well up for Day 4. Definitely finding my climbing legs.

Chris