Hey folks, just a quick note from across the pond.
Weather has been quite lovely although my plan of "ride 4-5 hours in the morning and hit the beach in the afternoon" is not really coming together. The first couple of days were chilly and gray in the mornings so I just hung out until noon when it warmed up. Afterwards I lit out for the local cols.
Day 1:
Col d'Ibardin - Col de Lizuneaga - Col de Lizarieta - Col d'Ibardin
All of these climbs were basically in the 4-10 km range with average grades around 6.5%. France being a nation of cyclists, there are sign posts indicating the average grade for the following km so you always know how much you are suffering. The roads were amazingly narrow and twisty. It baffles the mind that 2 cars are expected to be able to cross each other at any point on these roads, let alone coming around a bend. Narrow and twisty roads make for really fun descents however.
Day 2:
St-Pee de Nivelle - Dancharria - Col d'Otxondo - Garramundi - Col d'Ispeguy - St-Etienne de Baigorry - Espelette
Essentially, there are no flat roads anywhere around here. It all goes up and down non stop. On this day, I went out further East to hit some big climbs that my father's friend suggested. The Col d'Otxondo was 10km at about 6% average. A nice twisty road that wasn't too narrow but didn't have a ton of traffic either. Having reached the summit of the col after 10km, there was a turnoff point to go out and back to the summit of the mountain called Garramundi. This was a 10km road on unsealed asphalt that was quite steeper than the preceding col and it kept getting steeper as I approached the summit. The sun got covered and it got cold but it was still a lovely and challenging ride. Nice long 20km descent after that into Spain. I got lost looking for the next turn and encountered some crazy dog that chased after me and even jumped a stone wall to keep going after me. The sprint reinvigorated my legs and I found the road that lead to the Col d'Ispeguy. This was going to be another twisty climb over the lower Pyrrhenees from Spain back into France. Distance was 13km @ around 6%. The road was in great shape and was really fun to climb. Great views of Spain and France on each side of the mountain. I bonked on my way home having to ride into a stiff headwind for 60km. Total distance for the day was 180km. I stopped at a bar and ate some sandwiches while I watched the end of the Tour stage.
Day 3: beach!
Day 4:
Col d'Aubisque - Col de Soulor - Hautacam
I drove out to the High Pyrrhenees on Saturday on my way to the Tourmalet stage on Sunday. I decided to ride some legendary Tour de France climbs. Aubisque is 16.5km with an average grade of 7.2% hitting max grades of 10% (at the end of course). This was a hella long climb but it was along a beautiful road with several riders on the road. I passed all of them of course. I reached the top in 1 hour, took some photos and kept riding to the Col de Soulor. This was a road down the other side of the mountain, which I did not ride of course since my car was parked at the bottom of Aubisque. I wanted to hit Hautacam and Luz-Ardiden before the end of the day so I rode the cornice to the Col, which was an amazing road along the side of the mountain that was blocked by a herd of cows (for cars anyway, I was able to thread my way through). Out and back took about an hour and then i had the pleasure of descending 20km at full speed. I had to drive back up Aubisque in order to get to Hautacam. Not nearly as much fun. Descending Soulor in a Citroen also wasn't the proper way to experience these roads. Can't do much about it though. I reached Hautacam late in the afternoon, got out of the car and immediately started climbing. This climb is another Hors Categorie climb. 13km at 8% average grade. It was deserted except for a Cervelo Test Team rider and a guy who was riding one of those longboard skateboards who was going downhill and whipped around a bend at the exact moment a car was going up and around the same corner. He had to bail and literally almost got killed by the car, right in front of me. Luckily for him there was a barrier that prevented his board from being launched off the face of the mountain. NYQy, it's interesting to climb for so long and on such steep grades that you can get to the point where you see that the average grade is 7% and you think "yes! I can recover a bit". The last 6km of Hautacam are steep and keep getting steeper, like 8, 8, 9, 9, 10%. The descent of 13km with no one on the roads is super sweet.
I reached the town of Luz-St Sauveur at 19h30 and figured it was too late to do the Luz-Ardiden climb which I probably couldn't have done anyway. I was planning on just crashing in my car that night but come night time, I realized the seats in the car didn't recline. In a panic (it seemed earlier like all the hotels were booked), I was contemplating sleeping in a field but as I walked towards it, found a hotel that had some vacancies. Luckily for me the room was pretty affordable and I got a good night's sleep before the Tourmalet.
Day 5:
Col du Tourmalet (from the West) - Col du Tourmalet (from the East)
This day was going to be totally bananas. There was a shit load of people on all types of vehicles making their way to the top of the mountain. The average grade is 7,7% and it goes up for 18.3km, max grade is 10,2%. It took me 1:28 to reach the top, passing hundreds of people. I am happy to say that I did not get passed by anyone, though I don't think my performance was very outstanding. I started having a hard time probably halfway through and was not spinning over 70rpm, more like 60. My taint was getting pounded into submission by the never-ending climb (you'd think I'd like having my taint pounded into submission, but not this time) and I was sweating like a pig, sweat dripping off me like a waterfall. It felt like every km passed the halfway mark was 8.5% or more. It was a truly relentless climb, with the last Ks the absolute worst.
The scene at the top was an absolute circus. A TON of cyclists, camping cars everywhere, gendarmes telling people where to go and what to do, no one really knowing what's going on. I had brought a backpack with food and water, not knowing if there was going to be anything at the top. Let it be known, there is a restaurant at the summit, so you don't need to bring stuff with you. Then again, if you aren't going to be hanging out at the top, you should probably bring something with you if you are going to be standing around in the sun for hours.
The Tour wasn't scheduled to come around for another 5 hours so I rode down the Eastern side. I couldn't fly down since it was crowded as Hell. At the bottom, I scuttled my plan to ride up the Col d'Aspin (the other big climb of the stage) and then back down and back up the Tourmalet. Instead, I ate and drank at the bottom of Tourmalet and turned around and went back up. Although the stats are similar for this other approach, it definitely felt harder after the first climb. I was struggling and this time had to deal with riding up through a mass of enthusiasts. There was a ton of Spanish and Basque Euskaltel fans all shouting venga venga and the French were shouting Allez Allez! It's way cool but at the same time I felt very conscious of how slow I was going, something like 9mph. At least no one ran up next to me and pushed me up hill. I stopped 5km from the top just below La Mongie, where the grades are supposedly 13% for a few hundred meters and where some commentators said there might be attacks. I stopped there because the Tour Caravan was coming up behind me and some french dick in a tour vehicle drove right next to me and shouted through his speaker system that I had to get the fuck off the road. Total public humiliation. Whatever. Caravan went by throwing crap at us. Only Bouygues and Caisse d'Epargne through cool stuff like jerseys but I didn't snag any, the old ladies around me were much quicker than me.
The pros went by and thankfully looked like they were suffering like motherfuckers. They were not going particaularly fast either but I'd say something like 15-16mph, which is 2x as fast as me. The peloton went RIGHT by me, like I had to suck in my gut to not get run over by them. I was up against a car too and had nowhere to go. I got some cool photos of Cancellara, Ballan, Nocentini, Fedrigo and Pellizotti and lots of others. I didn't notice Lance or Alberto but I can imagine they were in the yellow jersey group. Once the Lanterne Rouge went by everyone packed up and went. It was a gigantic traffic jam at the Col, bikes, motos, cars, pedestrians. Thankfully, the gendarmes were letting all the bikes through first and I was back on my way down hill. The descent on the western side has sweeping turns rather than tight ones, so you can really go super fast. Of course there was a shit load of other cyclists, but I was still able to go pretty damn fast. It was absolutely awesome and I was descending faster than everyone on the road.
I'll post some photos of all this a little bit later. Hope all is well. Today will be a gentle riding day. I'll try to head over to San Sebastian, but I still have to go over some mountains to do that...
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Weather has been quite lovely although my plan of "ride 4-5 hours in the morning and hit the beach in the afternoon" is not really coming together. The first couple of days were chilly and gray in the mornings so I just hung out until noon when it warmed up. Afterwards I lit out for the local cols.
Day 1:
Col d'Ibardin - Col de Lizuneaga - Col de Lizarieta - Col d'Ibardin
All of these climbs were basically in the 4-10 km range with average grades around 6.5%. France being a nation of cyclists, there are sign posts indicating the average grade for the following km so you always know how much you are suffering. The roads were amazingly narrow and twisty. It baffles the mind that 2 cars are expected to be able to cross each other at any point on these roads, let alone coming around a bend. Narrow and twisty roads make for really fun descents however.
Day 2:
St-Pee de Nivelle - Dancharria - Col d'Otxondo - Garramundi - Col d'Ispeguy - St-Etienne de Baigorry - Espelette
Essentially, there are no flat roads anywhere around here. It all goes up and down non stop. On this day, I went out further East to hit some big climbs that my father's friend suggested. The Col d'Otxondo was 10km at about 6% average. A nice twisty road that wasn't too narrow but didn't have a ton of traffic either. Having reached the summit of the col after 10km, there was a turnoff point to go out and back to the summit of the mountain called Garramundi. This was a 10km road on unsealed asphalt that was quite steeper than the preceding col and it kept getting steeper as I approached the summit. The sun got covered and it got cold but it was still a lovely and challenging ride. Nice long 20km descent after that into Spain. I got lost looking for the next turn and encountered some crazy dog that chased after me and even jumped a stone wall to keep going after me. The sprint reinvigorated my legs and I found the road that lead to the Col d'Ispeguy. This was going to be another twisty climb over the lower Pyrrhenees from Spain back into France. Distance was 13km @ around 6%. The road was in great shape and was really fun to climb. Great views of Spain and France on each side of the mountain. I bonked on my way home having to ride into a stiff headwind for 60km. Total distance for the day was 180km. I stopped at a bar and ate some sandwiches while I watched the end of the Tour stage.
Day 3: beach!
Day 4:
Col d'Aubisque - Col de Soulor - Hautacam
I drove out to the High Pyrrhenees on Saturday on my way to the Tourmalet stage on Sunday. I decided to ride some legendary Tour de France climbs. Aubisque is 16.5km with an average grade of 7.2% hitting max grades of 10% (at the end of course). This was a hella long climb but it was along a beautiful road with several riders on the road. I passed all of them of course. I reached the top in 1 hour, took some photos and kept riding to the Col de Soulor. This was a road down the other side of the mountain, which I did not ride of course since my car was parked at the bottom of Aubisque. I wanted to hit Hautacam and Luz-Ardiden before the end of the day so I rode the cornice to the Col, which was an amazing road along the side of the mountain that was blocked by a herd of cows (for cars anyway, I was able to thread my way through). Out and back took about an hour and then i had the pleasure of descending 20km at full speed. I had to drive back up Aubisque in order to get to Hautacam. Not nearly as much fun. Descending Soulor in a Citroen also wasn't the proper way to experience these roads. Can't do much about it though. I reached Hautacam late in the afternoon, got out of the car and immediately started climbing. This climb is another Hors Categorie climb. 13km at 8% average grade. It was deserted except for a Cervelo Test Team rider and a guy who was riding one of those longboard skateboards who was going downhill and whipped around a bend at the exact moment a car was going up and around the same corner. He had to bail and literally almost got killed by the car, right in front of me. Luckily for him there was a barrier that prevented his board from being launched off the face of the mountain. NYQy, it's interesting to climb for so long and on such steep grades that you can get to the point where you see that the average grade is 7% and you think "yes! I can recover a bit". The last 6km of Hautacam are steep and keep getting steeper, like 8, 8, 9, 9, 10%. The descent of 13km with no one on the roads is super sweet.
I reached the town of Luz-St Sauveur at 19h30 and figured it was too late to do the Luz-Ardiden climb which I probably couldn't have done anyway. I was planning on just crashing in my car that night but come night time, I realized the seats in the car didn't recline. In a panic (it seemed earlier like all the hotels were booked), I was contemplating sleeping in a field but as I walked towards it, found a hotel that had some vacancies. Luckily for me the room was pretty affordable and I got a good night's sleep before the Tourmalet.
Day 5:
Col du Tourmalet (from the West) - Col du Tourmalet (from the East)
This day was going to be totally bananas. There was a shit load of people on all types of vehicles making their way to the top of the mountain. The average grade is 7,7% and it goes up for 18.3km, max grade is 10,2%. It took me 1:28 to reach the top, passing hundreds of people. I am happy to say that I did not get passed by anyone, though I don't think my performance was very outstanding. I started having a hard time probably halfway through and was not spinning over 70rpm, more like 60. My taint was getting pounded into submission by the never-ending climb (you'd think I'd like having my taint pounded into submission, but not this time) and I was sweating like a pig, sweat dripping off me like a waterfall. It felt like every km passed the halfway mark was 8.5% or more. It was a truly relentless climb, with the last Ks the absolute worst.
The scene at the top was an absolute circus. A TON of cyclists, camping cars everywhere, gendarmes telling people where to go and what to do, no one really knowing what's going on. I had brought a backpack with food and water, not knowing if there was going to be anything at the top. Let it be known, there is a restaurant at the summit, so you don't need to bring stuff with you. Then again, if you aren't going to be hanging out at the top, you should probably bring something with you if you are going to be standing around in the sun for hours.
The Tour wasn't scheduled to come around for another 5 hours so I rode down the Eastern side. I couldn't fly down since it was crowded as Hell. At the bottom, I scuttled my plan to ride up the Col d'Aspin (the other big climb of the stage) and then back down and back up the Tourmalet. Instead, I ate and drank at the bottom of Tourmalet and turned around and went back up. Although the stats are similar for this other approach, it definitely felt harder after the first climb. I was struggling and this time had to deal with riding up through a mass of enthusiasts. There was a ton of Spanish and Basque Euskaltel fans all shouting venga venga and the French were shouting Allez Allez! It's way cool but at the same time I felt very conscious of how slow I was going, something like 9mph. At least no one ran up next to me and pushed me up hill. I stopped 5km from the top just below La Mongie, where the grades are supposedly 13% for a few hundred meters and where some commentators said there might be attacks. I stopped there because the Tour Caravan was coming up behind me and some french dick in a tour vehicle drove right next to me and shouted through his speaker system that I had to get the fuck off the road. Total public humiliation. Whatever. Caravan went by throwing crap at us. Only Bouygues and Caisse d'Epargne through cool stuff like jerseys but I didn't snag any, the old ladies around me were much quicker than me.
The pros went by and thankfully looked like they were suffering like motherfuckers. They were not going particaularly fast either but I'd say something like 15-16mph, which is 2x as fast as me. The peloton went RIGHT by me, like I had to suck in my gut to not get run over by them. I was up against a car too and had nowhere to go. I got some cool photos of Cancellara, Ballan, Nocentini, Fedrigo and Pellizotti and lots of others. I didn't notice Lance or Alberto but I can imagine they were in the yellow jersey group. Once the Lanterne Rouge went by everyone packed up and went. It was a gigantic traffic jam at the Col, bikes, motos, cars, pedestrians. Thankfully, the gendarmes were letting all the bikes through first and I was back on my way down hill. The descent on the western side has sweeping turns rather than tight ones, so you can really go super fast. Of course there was a shit load of other cyclists, but I was still able to go pretty damn fast. It was absolutely awesome and I was descending faster than everyone on the road.
I'll post some photos of all this a little bit later. Hope all is well. Today will be a gentle riding day. I'll try to head over to San Sebastian, but I still have to go over some mountains to do that...
