"I've done those climbs!!!!" or "Reminiscing"

I was looking at the profile of today's and tomorrow's stages and I just noticed that I have actually done two of the climbs that the TdF riders are doing.

The first one is listed as "côte de Montserrat" and it is just 20km from my house in Terrassa. I've done that climb dozens and dozens of times, although the Tour probably skipped the topmost 1.5km to take the road that continues north towards the Pyrenees. As a cat4, according to the Tour, it barely registers in the profile of the stage, but I guarantee you that it can be damned hard. My best time on that climb is just below 25 minutes (over 8.5km) and I typically use a 39x16 to 39x21 during most of the climb, with a 39x25 for a short wall near the top. I bet those guys did it in 15 minutes and in the big ring...



The second one is tomorrow's first climb, up the Envalira. I've done this monster only once, in the course of a 100-mile ride in the mountains two or three years ago. It's classified as a cat1 and it's the longest mountain pass I've ever done: 24km of climbing is a lot of climbing in one sitting... That was a truly epic ride the day I did it. It started with rain, all the way from the start of the ride to the base of the climb, in Andorra. Then at the top of the Envalira, the wind was so strong that it ripped off some traffic signs. I swear I saw one flying over my head as I started the descent...

Ahhhh, so many memories...