1. I have ridden up Ventoux, Hautacam and Alpe d’Huez…
2. My first memory of watching competitive cycling is watching Hinault and Lemond hand-in hand at the top of Alpe d’Huez…
3. I don’t race, but I do still ride randonneur events from time to time (up to BRM400 so far)…
4. I am not sports scientist, but I do have a background in empirical and theoretical psychology…

This blog is named after the Col de Spandelles (the shorter but harder side), which was my nemesis during a holiday in the Pyrenees: many climbs are harder, but on that day the man with the hammer came for me at around the 1000 m point. It is a beautiful and quiet climb, with some really steep sections at the bottom. On the same trip, the objectively much harder Hautacam (we continued up the Tramassel, another 100 m of altitude) seemed much less daunting. Climbing is an unpredictable business…

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