Day 4: Argeles-Gazost to St. Lary Soulan

57 miles

Today was a picture perfect day, with clear skies and ideal temperatures for cycling. Nonetheless the day started out with some difficulty for me since I am still not over my jetlag and it was an effort to hoist myself out of bed. Luckily we got up at 7 and weren't on the road until 9, so it was really not that bad.

A word on the daily mileages: they probably seem low. 50 miles here, 60 miles there, etc. However, we are doing HUGE climbs every day so the rides are by no means easy. Today we climbed over two big cols: the Col du Tourmalet, and the Col d'Aspin. These are both regular fixtures in the Tour de France and I was really glad to get to see them for myself.

The Tourmalet came first today. We left the hotel and headed up the valley a bit before getting up into a very steep narrow canyon with a rushing stream in it. The road was built up onto the cliff on the canyon wall and I was frequently riding next to a huge dropoff to the river below. This tends to focus the mind a bit ;) I stopped at one point to sightsee but didn't take any pictures because the canyon was so steep, no sunlight was penetrating into the canyon this early. We emerged from the canyon into the town of Luz-St. Sauveur, where the Tourmalet climb really begins.

As is now the custom, I got dropped immediately on the climb. I'm getting used to being the slowest climber on this tour. (I'm not at all competitive, but when you know everyone is waiting, you're less inclined to stop and look at things). I felt pretty strong today and climbed well (as I like to say - I did great - it's just that everyone else did even better). The road got up out of the trees and into high meadow and the views were just great. We finally got our big views that we have been waiting for!

About half way up the Tourmalet, a rider overtook me and we started chatting. He was French and was quite interested in this American rider who could speak French with him. We rode together for maybe 45 minutes, chatting about this and that. He was very interested in what Americans think of cycling, and of France. He was concerned that Americans think French people are "ploucs" (peasants - provincial - etc). So I assured him that was not the case. Interestingly the conversation never strayed into politics at all. When we were within the last kilometer of the top, he decided to pick up the pace. We did see each other again at the summit, and talked again, briefly. It was a nice way to spend the climb, mixing with the locals.

At the top, everyone was waiting and taking pictures, eating, etc. We got the usual summit photos and then I launched into the AWESOME descent off the Tourmalet. My oh my, that is one fun downhill. It went on forever, and was steep enough to never have to pedal, and there were lots of switchbacks to make it interesting. I got fairly far ahead of everyone on the downhill, and started up the next pass, the Col d'Aspin, alone. (These passes just come one right after the other in the Pyrenees!).

The Aspin has a very different character from the Tourmalet. The Tourmalet is steep, rugged and rocky. The Aspin is gentle, pastoral and forested. The two couldn't be more different, and yet they are right next to each other. To my amazement, I got to the top of the Aspin first. This was really nice because even though I'm not competitive, it meant that I could sit around for a while and take in the views without worrying about people waiting for me. After a couple of minutes, Ron drove up in the support van and I got some lunch, and then the other riders trickled in.

We sat around eating and taking more pictures on top of the Aspin for quite a while. It was only about 2pm and it was a positively gorgeous day in a very beautiful place. Nobody wanted to leave, but eventually we did head on down. The descent off the Aspin was not nearly as much fun as the Tourmalet, but still I never turn my nose up at a downhill. To cap the ride off, we got a strong tailwind all the way into St. Lary Soulan, which wasn't far from the bottom of the Aspin.

Tomorrow is our first rest day, so we will be here for two nights before continuing on. I'm entertaining the idea of hiring a guide and going rock climbing tomorrow. There is certainly no shortage of good cliffs here.

Here are my favorite photos for the day:

Here is a view back at the climb of the Tourmalet, taken from the summit. Note how steep the terrain is, and how rugged it is. Contrast with the Aspin, below.

Here's me posing for the obligatory photo at the summit marker on top of the Tourmalet.

Here's a nice view from the top of the Aspin. Note how different it is from the Tourmalet. Part of this may be altitude. The Tourmalet is 2115m, whereas the Aspin is "only" 1489m.

Here's the group on top of the Aspin. I had been wanting to take a picture of the entire group together for some time and was waiting for a good opportunity. This was it. From left to right: Ron, Craig, Jennie, Charlie, Allan, and me. In the background is the Pic du Midi (2872m).

And lastly, here is the view out our hotel room window in St. Lary Soulan. Could be worse...

That's all for now.

blog snafu

for reasons I can't fathom and can't seem to fix, days 2 and 3 insist on being out of order. So find today's post (day 3) below day 2.

-Tom

Day 2: St Jean Pied de Port to Oloron

miles: 75.

 

My bags mercifully showed up yesterday at midnight, and I got up early this morning (6:15) to put the bike together. Oddly, it isn't light here until about 7:30am, probably because we are quite far west in the time zone, so I was fumbling around in the dark putting the bike together outside. I got it together though, and got everything adjusted, before we even assembled for breakfast. Everyone was glad to see me come to breakfast in bike clothes (but not as glad as me).

The day was an interesting mix for me, it had some very high highs and some very low lows, which is as it should be, I suppose. Fortunately the ride ended on a high, which is also as it should be.

We climbed some huge passes today, very steep, and with only 4 hours sleep last night (I fell awake at 4am and didn't really go back to sleep) and 8 hours sleep the previous night but after having been up for over 30, I was plenty tired today. On the second pass, my lights just went out. I felt like I needed to stop by the side of the road and have a nap. I trudged up the pass at 3 mph, agonizingly slowly. That was my low point. At the top, nobody had waited but the van, of course, owing to it being cold up there. I got some food in me from the support van and felt a bit better and then descended through the rain and fog (very cold) to a little town at the bottom of the pass, where a bunch of us stopped for coffee. I don't usually bother with coffee but really needed something today.

The rest of the day, predictably, was really fun. We had about a 15 mile flat run to the finish and I rode with Allan and Charlie and Allan kept doing little attacks and we'd sprint for a hundred yards and then settle down again. I was in a good mood from the coffee and had a lot of fun mixing it up with the guys.

We're now safely back at the hotel and managed to get the bikes thoroughly cleaned, which is really important. I'm now on my second night in a row with no internet connection which is annoying. The hotelier told me that there is a cyber cafe in town but it's not very nearby. I'd need to ride there in my street clothes with my computer and I'm not sure I want to.

Here are some photos from today.

 

Jennie took this picture of me just after we emerged from the fog after our first climb of the day. The climb was long and steep and in pea soup fog so we got no views, which was very disappointing. But just over the pass the fog cleared briefly, just enough to get a good picture. The fog returned later and most of the day was wet.

Here's a picture of Jennie at a hydro-electric dam that we stopped to check out. The guys were too busy riding fast to bother to stop to see the sights, so Jennie and I did all of the sightseeing today. The water here went crashing down a couple of hundred feet into a deep forbidding gorge. Jennie called it the "death drop".

Here's some fog about halfway up the second pass of the day (where I was half asleep). There is lots of livestock on the roads, and consequently lots of livestock droppings on the road, which you have to watch out for. This isn't really bad fog actually. There were times when you couldn't see 50 feet.

This is just after our coffee stop. Allan and Charlie are checking out a mural with photos of famous Tour de France riders from the region.

And lastly, here's our bike wash setup at the finish hotel, with Allan washing and Charlie and Ron supervising.

That's all for now!

Day 3: Oloron to Argeles-Gazost

57 miles

Today was a really fun day with some monster climbs. We climbed the Col de Marie Blanque, the Col d'Aubisque, and the Col de Soulor. Of the three, the Col d'Aubisque was the hardest, topping out at 1700m. All of these climbs were part of the Tour de France this year.

We started out in very cold conditions this morning, which was a nice change from the sweltering conditions of two days ago, but nonetheless a bit uncomfortable for the first 5 miles or so until we warmed up. We hit the first climb, the Marie Blanque, a 1000m pass, after about 15 miles of flat warmup. I immediately got dropped, as has been the case on all of the climbs we have done so far. Clearly I'm the slowest climber on the tour, but my revenge is that I am by far the fastest descender ;)

Incidentally, Ron, who is helping crew with Allan, is 71 years old and can rip my legs off. He just rides me right off his wheel whenever he wants. He has been riding for 38 years and still races. (I bet he wins, too).

The Marie Blanque was very steep, and I found myself using my very lowest gear, a gear that I NEVER use at home. Part of this is that the climbing is very steep here, and part of it is that I'm still tired (and not likely to get a lot better any time soon). That being said, I still rode strong today, not like yesterday when I was barely turning the pedals over. I had to remind myself that I was doing great, it's just that the other riders were doing even greater.

The visibility was marginally better today, with minimal fog except at the very summits of the climbs. The roads were also dry, which made for nice descending. However, we still haven't gotten the huge views that we are so hoping for.

I was last to the top of the Marie Blanque, as expected, and it was freezing so I got some food from the van and headed down. The descent off the east side of the Marie Blanque is one of the most enjoyable descents I've ever done. The road surface is perfect (and was mercifully dry) and the turns were big sweepers with occasional little zig-zags to add excitement. The grade was steep enough to keep my speed quite high. By the bottom of the pass I had pulled back all of the other riders and was able to rejoin the group.

We continued on up a valley until we got to the next town, where Ron, Charlie, Allan and I decided to stop for coffee. Craig and Jennie weren't interested and pressed on. We sat on a nice patio in a pretty little town center and sipped our coffee for 15 minutes before heading up to the second pass of the day, the Aubisque.

The Aubisque is a very long climb, topping out at 1700m, and I was promptly dropped by Ron and Charlie about 1/2 mile into the climb. A few miles up, I compounded my problem by getting lost in a little town center and spending an extra five minutes climbing up to the top of a very steep dead end. In all it took me a solid 10 minutes to get back on track.

I felt good and rode well until almost the top where I started to flag a bit, but I was close enough to the summit that it didn't really matter. When I got to the top, the summit was shrouded in fog. Allan was there with the van, and Ron and Charlie were still milling around eating stuff. I opted to get off the pass as fast as possible because it was very cold. After a short descent, there is another short climb to the next pass, the Soulor. This climb is exceedingly minor, maybe 5 minutes of effort. But the conditions were markedly better and I stopped at the van to eat.

At this point we had about 20km, all downhill, left to ride and since it was only about 2pm, Charlie, Ron and I decided to go into the little buvette and get some hot chocolate. When we came back out, we hastily got on down the mountain because our bodies had cooled off and it was again freezing! The descent was once again spectacular, but very short. I don't think it took me more than 7 or 8 minutes to get down. This was really disproportionate to the amount of time spent climbing! Oh well.

Once in town, we fairly quickly found the hotel and I took my bags upstairs. Craig and Jennie had gone into Lourdes, we were told, to sightsee. Charlie decided to go out in search of more hills to conquer, and Ron and I decided to go explore the little town we were in. We ended up visiting a bike shop to repair a minor problem with Ron's bike and then we got some ice cream.

So all in all, a great day so far. The people here are really nice and the hotel has internet!

Here are some pictures from today:

This is on the lower slopes of the Col de Marie Blanque. Note the paint on the road, from the Tour de France, which passed through this year. Of note is the little sign on the right, which is specifically for cyclists, indicating how far it is to the summit, what the local elevation is, what the summit elevation is, and how steep the next few kilometers will be. Everything a cyclist wants to know!

Here is a church right across the street from the bar where we stopped for coffee. I also visited an ATM in this town. It was very nice. (The town, not the ATM).

Here's a rather imposing peak emerging from the clouds on the ascent of the Aubisque. I was at 1300m and the peak was 2600m Pic de Ger (I think). The clouds came and went, so a few minutes later you couldn't see it anymore. There were ski lifts and cable cars up there, so maybe you can get a ride to the top, I don't know. Incidentally, it wasn't really that dark there, but I had to take the exposure off the bright clouds, otherwise the mountain wouldn't show up.

Victory! Here's me at the top of the Aubisque. The photo was taken by a random cyclist of unknown nationality. I spoke French to him but he just kind of grunted and used sign language in return. Some things are just understood no matter the language: every cyclist wants their picture taken to document their achievement! I showed him my camera and he knew exactly what to do.

yesterday's best photos

Since I didn't have my baggage yesterday, I couldn't post any photos. My bags finally came last night! So now I can post some of the best photos from yesterday. (Remember I was in the van all day because I didn't have my bike).

Here are Jennie and Craig looking chipper at the rest stop on the first big climb of the day:

Here are the boys on one of the prettier climbs:

Nice scenery:

Jennie crests the pass:

I've got lots more, but those are the good ones.

Day 1: Biarritz to St Jean Pied-de-Port

Today so far has been kind of a bummer for me because I was not able to ride due to my bags not being here yet.

The good news (I hope) is that my bags are intended to be delivered this evening around 10pm. Assuming that that actually happens, I will of course be able to ride tomorrow. But for today, I rode in the van.

The day started out with heavy fog, strong wind and a little rain. None of that bothered me of course, in the van, but for the others the conditions were less than ideal for an hour or so. Once we got away from the vicinity of the Atlantic, things got better and the day got positively nice for an hour or two before the heat set in. I got lots of pictures that of course I can't share because I don't have the equipment to download them until I get my bags.

On the final descent we encountered a group of Spanish cyclists, one of whom had a major mechanical problem and wasn't able to pedal anymore. We managed to communicate enough to agree to take him in the van into town where there was a bike shop while his friends and our group all rode in together on bikes. The bike shop was,  of course, closed for lunch when we got there, but our guest decided to wait so we left him there.

Right now I'm in the hotel room and  it is just sizzling hot and I wish I could go out on my bike because that is the only way to get a breeze. It doesn't help that I've been sitting around in the same clothes for almost three days now ;) I'd love to go out and visit the town but the sun is like a sledgehammer and I won't be going out for any reason for a few more hours.  The day is young.

Shorn again

Sitting in the sweltering hotel this afternoon, a little light clicked on in my head as I remembered that in the past I have shaved my legs to help deal with hot weather. So you can guess the rest: I of course am now comfortably shorn and already feel better.

Day 0: arrival in Biarritz

Well I've been up for about 24 hours now. I had a very long trip that started out with bad traffic from Beaverkill to Newark, and continued with a very slow checkin. I couldn't manage to get my bags checked through all the way to Biarritz, despite about 20 minutes of trying (the woman even called the help desk).

So anyway by the time I got to the gate, the plane was already boarding. It was a 5:55pm departure and I left Beaverkill at noon, so that tells you something.

On the flight I had a ring of 6 screaming babies surrounding me so sleeping wasn't much of an option.

It was great to get to Geneva, and a bit odd to depart again immediately.  In Geneva I asked if my bags could be checked all the way to Biarritz, but was told that they would only go to Clermont Ferrand, and I'd have to hassle with them there. Well I got to Clermont Ferrand and the bags were not there. On investigation, it turned out they were still in Geneva. So obviously the checkin procedure didn't work.

The upshot is that I won't see my bags until tomorrow and will miss the first day of biking. And that is assuming, of course, that I actually get my bags tomorrow, which is by no means assured.

The group is all here, there are 6 people total, and two will share in the driving of the support van. We have maps with our route all highlighted, which is nice. We are going to be doing some epic days in the mountains.

For the present though, I'm just exhausted. I had the good idea to bring everything that mattered in my carry-on bag, including my computer, so I can post a blog entry. But I can't post photos because I don't have the adapters to download the photos! What a pain.

I look forward to getting out of here tomorrow and into the hills, it is very hot. Until then...