Day 14 Oloron to Biarritz

I didn't ride at all today because of my knee. It was a very good choice because this afternoon my knee hurts even when I just walk, and it has become a sharp pain rather than a dull pain. I will need to take it easy for a few days.

The route today was fairly short but had many steep little hills. (not that I cared.. I was in the van) The weather was generally foggy and cloudy during the ride but it is now sunny in Biarritz. We will have a last dinner here this evening and then head home tomorrow. Right now everyone is busy packing up their bikes (except me - I finished earlier - aside from going downhill, packing up the bike seems to be the other thing that I do faster than the others ;)

Overall, it has been a very nice trip, although my conclusion after this trip and after PAC Tour earlier in the summer is that I only keep my enthusiasm for about the first week, and after that I'm just going along because I have to. I'll keep that in mind next time I plan a cycling vacation.

Day 13: Auch to Oloron

104 miles

Today was a great day in many ways. I started out thinking I would see how far I got before my knee gave out. In the end I rode the whole day.

I had raised my saddle a bit yesterday after discovering that my beam is sagging, and the new position is much more comfortable on the knees. Still, I had a lot of discomfort and was prepared to get in the van by about mile 30. But the group stopped for some coffee and apple tart in Marciac, and by the time we all got going again, I decided that my knee felt ok, and I was really having fun and determined not to get in the van, so I continued on with the group.

For once today, I was mostly keeping up, except when the guys put in the really crazy attacks once in a while. I followed the first few, but after that I decided that if they want to go, I'm going to let them go. The knee hurt a lot at times, but interestingly it hurt less when I was really working hard, so I often found myself working quite hard because it actually felt better.

Somewhere around mile 40 to 50 we noticed that we had not seen the support van in a very long time. Ron was driving today and we figured he must have gotten lost. I was hoping it was nothing serious because we had not seen him in hours and it was a little concerning. I ran out of water and food and we finally got to Pontacq and decided that we couldn't continue on without eating. Just as we had found a takeout pizza place, Ron showed up in the van. So we had our normal lunch, if a bit late.

The last 40 or so miles of the day were an endless series of ups and downs over hill and dale as we made our way to Oloron. The town of Lasseube, close to the finish, was "en fete" as we rode through, with the streets jammed with revelers. It was fun but tricky to get through on bikes.

The final adventure for the day was that when we got to Oloron, nobody knew how to get to the hotel, even through we have been here before (on day 2). The last time we were here we came in a totally different way so it was unfamiliar. We spent 5 minutes staring at a map in the downtown area before deciding on a course of action to find the hotel. Ultimately of course, we got here.

Spirits are high, we only have one day left on the tour and the route for tomorrow has not been planned yet. As for me, I really don't know if I will ride at all tomorrow. I rode through the pain in my knee all day today, at first because I had no choice (Ron went missing) and later because I figured I could always take tomorrow off. I'll make a decision tomorrow morning.

I didn't take many pictures today because I spent most of the day working to keep up with the group. But I did get a few. Here they are:

Here's a pretty countryside somewhere before Marciac. I had just gotten dropped after a huge attack by Charlie, so I figured it was a good opportunity to stop and take a picture.

Here's the church steeple in Marciac. I would have liked to get more of it in the picture, but it was too big to fit in the image. Nice church. It looked a bit more like a cathedral than the other churches we have seen so far.

Here's the group eating apple tart in Marciac

Day 12: Castelnaudary to Auch

I rode in the van today, owing to my bad knee. It was actually fairly relaxing, if a bit disappointing, to be in the van all day. I had the opportunity to take a bunch of pictures.

Upon arrival, I checked the height of my saddle and found that it is a bit low, which could account for my knee problem. I'll try riding again tomorrow. This has happened before and raising the saddle fixed the problem. I wish I had thought of it sooner!

The group seemed to like the ride today. For once, everyone stayed together and rode a sensible pace. It figures it would be the one day I wasn't riding at all.

The hotel this evening has no internet and stinks of stale cigarette smoke. Maybe I'll go sleep in the parking lot.

Here are some photos:

This is the church in Mazeres, where we had stopped to get bread. There was organ music but the front door was closed so I couldn't see what was happening.

Here's the bridge over the river Ariege, in Saverdun. Amazing colors there.

Jennie, Ron and Craig.

Ron

Day 11: Collioure to Castelnaudary

60 miles

I rode only half the day today, owing to an increasingly bad knee. We started out riding all together for the first 25 miles to get through the flat coastal area north of Collioure, most of which was into a fierce headwind. We got a bit lost going into the very first town after Collioure, and had to ask for directions, but it was quickly sorted out.

Eventually we got into the hills again and the winds died down, although there was never a moment the entire day with no wind at all.

I had a funny little burst of energy about 40 miles in and sprinted ahead of the group for a while. If I could figure out why or how that happens, I'd do it more often. But I'm mystified as to why I occasionally feel very strong. It doesn't follow any pattern that I can see. Unfortunately, my knee got progressively worse and by the time we all stopped for lunch, I decided to call it quits and get in the van.

I rode the second half of the day in the van with Ron, as navigator, which is nice because it gives me something to do and also I feel connected with where we are.

The consensus from the others is that it was a very hard day, about 125 miles info fierce wind and a lot of climbing.

The guys all went out for dinner, but Jennie wanted to get her legs horizontal as soon as possible and didn't go out with us. This was the first dinner I've had in France that I didn't like. We ordered cassoulet, since it is a local dish. I thought it was pretty bad.

The hotel that we are staying in is right on the banks of the Canal du Midi, and we can step out the back door and walk along the canal.

Here's a picture from earlier in the day when I was still feeling strong and still riding.

Collioure: afternoon photos

Here are some more photos taken later in the day.








Ron and Charlie:

Allan:

Day 10: rest day in Collioure

Today is a rest day, so we are free to do as we please. This morning, Craig, Jennie and I went out fairly early to check out the morning light. I got a bunch of nice photos with very few people in them. I'll go back out this afternoon and take some more now that more people are out.

We also did our laundry this morning, which is a necessary chore every four days or so.

Here are some of this morning's photos:

Day 9: Font Romeu to Collioure

30 miles

My knee was hurting today and I am a bit tired of riding alone (since I don't keep up with the group) so I got in the van today after 30 miles.

The first 30 miles were almost all downhill, so I didn't actually do much work today. As I mentioned in yesterday's report, we slept at 1700m last night, and we are at sea level today, so we did quite a bit of downhilling today, mostly in the first 30 miles. I knew that there would be a hard climb though, so I quit just before, not wanting to hurt my knee any further.

Ron was driving the van today, and I was copilot and navigator. Ron likes to drive the van, he says it really handles well, and once commented "my MG would love these roads". You can guess from that that the driving was brisk. I had to hold on tight to my lunch as Ron raced along the windy mountain roads, putting the big diesel van through its paces.

We stopped at the top of the aforementioned pass to serve lunch. We had been promised no more big climbs after yesterday but this was nonetheless over 1000m at the top. Lucky for me I was in the van.

Tomorrow is a rest day in Collioure, which is an idyllic little town on the Mediterranean. I have no ambitions other than to do some laundry and take a lot of pictures.

Speaking of which, I liked these pictures from today:

This is a little village tucked up on the hillside halfway up the pass today:

Here's the group just after the pass. You can't really tell from the picture, but the horizon is the Mediterranean. The pass was at about 1000m, so the view was pretty great.

Day 8: Tarascon to Font Romeu

71 miles

Today started out with brisk temperatures and overcast skies. I was quite sore and tired today, which may have been caused by the racing that we did to the finish line yesterday.

The upshot of this is that I went off the back of the group pretty much immediately. I rode most of the day thinking I was at the very back, but later found that others had stopped and I had passed them unknowingly. More on that later.

The climbing today consisted of  three major climbs and a smattering of other general uphill thrown in for good measure. Leaving Tarascon, we immediately headed up the Pas de Souloumbrie (911m). The road was very small and there were huge limestone cliffs off to the right, occasionally with big holes which might have been entrances to caves. As is always the case in this part of the world, we passed through many small villages with stone houses and the occasional farmer walking up the road. In one village, three men were busy rebuilding the roof of a very old and very large house. It looked like quite a project.

After the summit, the road stayed up at altitude, bypassing a huge industrial complex down in the bottom of the valley (we could smell it way up where we were). We also bypassed the major town of Ax-les-Thermes. Well most of us did, Ron missed a turn and rode all the way down the hill into town before realizing what he had done, and had to climb all the way back out again. Despite this, he later caught up to me and passed me on the next climb. Ron is a machine, and 71 years old at that.

The next big climb was the Col de Marmare and Col de Chioula, which is actually just one climb because you continue uphill from the first to the second with no intermediate descent. The high point is at 1431m. The early part of the climb was one of my favorite roads so far, it was a tiny forest road, barely one lane wide, (if two cars encountered each other, they'd both have to drive off the pavement to pass). Also the views on this climb were fantastic and the grade was really gentle, something which we haven't had much of on this trip. At the top, however, it started to rain and things were looking grim for a while. The road was wet and I had to take it easy on the downhill. Luckily that didn't last long.

The final big climb of the day was also the final big climb of the tour. We still have five riding days left, but no big passes anymore. This final climb was the Col de Pailheres (or the Port de Pailheres, depending on who you ask) at 2001m. It was a brute of a climb, both steep and long, and very very cold on top. We went through a ski station halfway up and by the time we got to the summit we were at the level of the top of the lifts. I enjoyed seeing a couple of shepherds and their dogs herding sheep down on one of the ski slopes, which evidently double as grazing land in summer.

The back side of the Pailheres is a fantastic descent, and I regret not doing it as a climb. Outside of Alpe d'Huez, I've never seen so many switchbacks. The road was more like a ladder making its way down the side of the mountain. And the switchbacks were not the 1/4 mile switchbacks we've been seeing. Some of them were maybe 100 ft long. It was great riding.

Once down off the mountain, we still had a long way to go to the finish. Some of it was up, some of it was down, but no more huge climbs. The landscape has changed rather dramatically. Once past the Pailheres, the mountains started looking much more like the Sierras, with big grassy plains separating the mountains.

After riding most of the day thinking I was at the back of the pack (except for the one time Ron passed me after getting lost), I finally came across Craig waiting at an intersection in the middle of nowhere. He said that everyone was behind him, but I had not seen anyone, so we were perplexed as to where the other riders were. Additionally, I had not seen the support van since before the Pailheres, and was out of both food and water. Craig and I rode a few miles on before we got to a small town and I was able to get some water at a public fountain. We looked for a good place to eat where we could see if the van went by, but the only place we saw was out of the way. So we rode on, very hungry. A couple of miles later, Allan showed up in the van (finally) and we had a 45 minute lunch stop in a beautiful prairie (Allan was singing the Bonanza theme song) while waiting for the others.

After the other riders showed up we continued on into town to the hotel. This hotel has the distinction of being the highest overnight so far, we are at 1700m, higher than many of the Cols we have crossed! And we are in a big town, not on top of a mountain somewhere. The view out the window is great, the town is perched on the side of a hill overlooking one of the great plains that seem to be common here.

Tomorrow, I've been told it's all downhill to the Mediterranean. We'll see about that!

I didn't take many photos today, but I like these:

These are the switchbacks going down from the top of the Pailheres. These are still pretty long switchbacks, and the hillside isn't so steep. Further down, the switchbacks are much shorter, and the mountain is much steeper.

Here's our prairie lunch stop with Allan and Craig.

Day 7: St Girons to Tarascon

60 miles

Today started out cold and gloomy, in contrast to the blue skies we have had the past few days. Luckily we started climbing almost immediately and hence warmed up quickly. Leaving St. Girons we rode up a very pretty river and eventually turned right and rode up the side of the mountain to our first col of the day, the Col de Catchaudegue (893m). The climb was fairly gentle and we crossed through some pretty little hamlets which sadly I did not protograph. On the descent, there was fresh chip seal which had not been swept, which meant that the road was covered in gravel. It's very hard to ride on this kind of surface on skinny tires. Nonetheless I was glad for a new challenge and as usual, enjoyed my descent.

Once back down in the valley we immediately began our second climb of the day, the Col de Latrape (1110m). The climb was mostly pretty gentle but unfortunately was also covered with fresh chip seal. Technically, it's easier to go uphill on gravel than downhill, but I found it a lot less fun and was plenty glad to get to the top. At the top Charlie and Allan had stopped at a cafe for coffee, and the rest of us pulled in as well. The proprietor was very chatty and told us that the next climb on our route was supposed to be very hard (although, as he repeated a few times, he wasn't a cyclist himself so he didn't really know for sure).

After the descent from the Latrape (which was mercifully free of gravel) we headed on up the next climb, the Col d'Agnes (1570m). This was a really spectacular climb, with huge rocky peaks all around. It felt like being deep in the Alps, more so than anywhere else we've yet been. The road switched its way back and forth up the valley wall until we got right up into the clouds. Of course this meant that we couldn't see anything from the summit, which was a letdown. Also it was freezing on top, and nobody had waited, so I didn't linger and headed right over and down the other side.

After the Agnes, there is a very short descent to a high valley with a big lake in it. Ron was waiting there with the van, and I stopped for lunch. Charlie and Allan stopped as well a few minutes later, but Craig and Jennie were nowhere to be seen. After lunch, we did the final climb, a very short climb from the high valley back up to 1517m on the Col de Port de Lers. We found Craig and Jennie waiting up there. It was a nice spot so Ron parked the van again and we had more food. There were lots of horses in the adjacent field and one of them was very interested in us and joined our little group for the duration of our stay.

After that, it was a ripping downhill into the valley, and then a more gradual descent down the valley all the way to Tarascon. Allan, Charlie and I raced the final miles, sprinting for town limit signs the whole way (I got the final sprint into Tarascon!) Craig and Jennie took it easy (later Jennie said that her toes were still numb from the cold descent at that point and she was in no mood to race).

We made it into the hotel and that's when we discovered that there was one final climb for the day: the climb up to our rooms! We are all on the third floor and let me tell you, with tired legs, the three storey climb, over and over, really hurts. Especially with luggage that first time.

Here are the obligatory photos:

This is the top of the Col de Latrape.

Some of the locals on the lower slopes of the Col d'Agnes: The horse on the left was very curious and every time someone rode up, he would go give a few sniffs. I almost got a photo of him chewing on my aero bars, but he got bored and walked away before I could get the camera out.

And finally, here's the little town at the bottom of the final descent, before the race to the finish.

day 6: St Lary Soulan to St Girons

90 miles

Today was a long day by this tour's standards, 90 miles and 12,000 ft of climbing. We crossed five passes today: the Col d'Azet, 1500m, the Col de Peyresourde, 1500m, the Col du Portillon, 1300m, the Col de Mente, 1350m, and the Col de Portet d'Aspet, 1069m. None of these climbs in itself was very high but doing five in a day added up. The steepest was the Portet d'Aspet, which required the use of my lowest gear.

Overall I felt pretty good all day. But I'm not in the mood to write anything lengthy. Suffice it to say it was a pretty good day.

Here is the town of Azet, seen from the climb of Col d'Azet, in the early morning. Very pretty.

And here's one of my five obligatory summit photos, this one on the Peyresourde:

bad internet

The hotel today has the worst internet connection ever. I can't upload my blog entries easily. Yesterday I had no internet at all.

Anyway, the reports will be posted, eventually, when I can.
-Tom

Day 5: Rest day in St. Lary Soulan

Today is a rest day so we had no riding agenda today. Some people wanted to ride anyway. I had talked about going rock climbing, but in the end, that didn't sound very restful, and tomorrow is supposed to be a very hard day, so I figured I'd just do an easy hike.

I took the cable car, which is just a few blocks from here, up to the Pla d'Adet, which is the base of the local ski resort at 1700m. From there, I hiked up into the hills under the ski lifts for a bit. There is a mountain bike race there today and although I didn't see the race, I did see some riders out practicing.

I also managed to do some laundry this morning, which was needed. For the rest of the day I think I'm just going to read.