Col de la Croix Saint Robert - Murol

This was the first mountain I ever climbed, now 7 years ago - I was 25 then. I had purchased my racing bike just a few months earlier and up until then, I had only climbed some steep, but short hills of Flanders. This was nothing like what I had ever done before and it felt pretty heavy to me - on the steepest part, there were even publicity banners along the road! I remember wandering whether this would be a ""1st cat."" climb in the Tour de France. Since then, I have climbed quite a few classic cols in both Alps and Pyrenees and looking at the Croix St Roberts characteristics today, I find them not very impressive. (The St. Robert would probably be granted a ""2nd category"" in the Tour.) However, its a climb I still cherish: it taught me I was able to climb real mountains too. I did it over again a few days later on my fathers everyday bike, with my brother riding my racing bike. The photographic souvenir from that moment tells me that according to the notice at the top, the col is 1451m high.

My personal climb rating: