What a day, what an experience, what an effort. In the end, my longest day with a summit arrival under a full moon. Do not worry, I arrived after 219km, 4600 hm and just under 14h and I did not use a bus.

There was just no Internet in the hotel, otherwise I would have really briefly released the prepared blog page with a sign of life. But still so many thanks for your Whatsapp, SMS, emails.

What kind of day it was can be explained in stages. I started with a great feeling and my Garmin reported GOOD. (It has a function that detects how tired or fresh you are by your heart rate). The last few days it always reported “Resting”. Today, GOOD. I drove so cheerfully the first 100 km pretty fast and alone.

I also have to say that I’m just going to take it as it comes and not worry about tomorrow. I have to do it anyway. My colleagues study the route and discuss. I now live in the belief, not knowing what is coming is better. Should I know – especially this day – I would be negatively primed (influenced) and my morale would suffer,fail.

Just look at the profile and everyone will feel sick. How can it be done? It went.

After 100 km it went up again and I was surprised how easy it is for me. The following mountain was then more demanding and sackesteil. Since it went constantly 9 – 11% up. There everything was still in order and I enjoyed again one of these dreamlike Pynenees descents.

And then it went into a high-category mountain up, that is then outside the normal rating, in German: incredibly difficult. Sure, I will not forget the Col de Muente. But I was then on top.

Super rapid descent. These descents in the Pyrenees are simply a dream, you can not bring in the Alps. And then this landscape …

Then on to the next climb, up to the next summit, the Port de Bales. You can already see from my selfie printout what I have behind me on this day. But that was by far not yet.

Frankly, I had the map and the route not quite in mind and I had also decided that I do not care, I just drive it as it comes. And exactly so it should come.

I had to drive up to the Col de Peyresourde. Although my brain constantly imagined that here was the summit and I would drive here but now to the team camp. Whistle lid, such imaginings one has on such ways sometimes.

When I saw that, I thought, hey, I was just there last year. The booth with the 50 cents for a crêpe, but we came there from Aareau.

Well, then it went down again and then not in the familiar place, no the team hotel was at the mountain finish in Peyresource. That was another 600 meters of altitude to climb.

My Garmin had long since given up the ghost because of lack of electricity and Roland just drove to arrive. But the full moon was an experience, he illuminated this scene almost unreal bright, but still really, that was beautiful. unfortunately, I could not hold that.

In a nutshell, so then I arrived at the team hotel at 21:30 and only learned the next day that the last arrived at 23:15.

I was received like a king on a journey. Who was on the legs clapping and shouting. My luggage was in the apartment, etc.

What a day, heavy, yes, but no less classy. One of the Lifers hugged me tightly and said he was so proud of me and that is now burned into my personality, no one can take that away from me …

So, to the end, what kept me going that day was this incredible landscape. I was here now for the 2nd time and it is still beautiful.

The other was, I drive once in my life the Tour de France and exactly this Tour belongs to me … this belongs to me was so dominant, that has carried me to the top.