...almost at the bottom....

..and still descending....

and still going downhill...

descent - continued...

descent - continued

descent pics... continued...

Pictures of a descent

This gives you some idea of the twists and turns in a typical 30 minute descent.
The main difference between these pictures and where we usually rode was that there were no guard rails. Just 1.5 feet of grass, then over the edge.

Pictures

This picture was shot in landscape mode and then 'stitched' together. It is of the Col de Chicula (1431 m).

Tues Aug 7th

OK critics, here is Tuesday – I know you wanted Tuesday – so here it is…

There was thunder and lightning in the early hours. The rain continued to pour down heavily. Mercifully it stopped by the time we were ready to ride.

Nothing is worse than starting a ride off in the rain. Once you are going and it rains, that is fine. But to start in the rain, I don’t agree with that. My life must be too comfortable.

Right off the start, we are climbing the Col d’Ausbique. Not even a 2 minute warm-up. Those of you ride with me know I like 15-20 minute of soft pedaling. It helps your body adjust easier to the upcoming exertion.

Col d’Ausbique was in this year’s Tour de France. It has beautiful sweeping turns. The pavement is like glass. There is one section where the pavement is very decent, then on the same incline, the pavement is newly laid. I watch my speedometer. As I go from the decent pavement to the ‘glass’ pavement, keeping my effort the same, my speed increases by 0.6 kph. Amazing what the lack of rolling resistance can do for you.

I am riding with Vince today. He is a former 10k runner for Great Britain, many years ago, as he states. He only picked up the bike one year ago and is still learning how to ride it. He has the aerobic capacity and can climb like a mountain goat.

We start out chatting up the Col d’Ausbique. We talk about bears and Lance Armstrong. The British have obsessions with both. Beats me why…. (lol).

Before too long I tell Vince I can’t talk to him as I need to concentrate on my breathing. In reality, I have run out of both Lance and bear stories! Just kidding – I really needed to focus on my breathing! Col d’Ausbique is an HC rated climb. The hardest there is.

As we climb, you can see Tour favorites names’ written on the road. Someone still thinks Lance is riding. It is a unique sensation to see the names, and to know that I am here, 6,000 km (or more) away from home climbing the same road that 1 month ago was a mass of humanity, encouraging 189 riders to climb this monster.

After what must be close to 2 hours of climbing, we make it to the top. It is cold. It is foggy. It is drizzling. It is not pleasant. It was a hard climb.

At the top, we bundle up to protect against the cold. Visibility is 10 yards. We freeze. I ride the brakes down.

We cross over to the Col de Soleur and climb it from a different direction. We had climbed it on day 1. To get the Soleur, we go through a tunnel carved from the rock. The pavement shifts to concrete for the 30 yards / metres while we go though the tunnel.

The tunnel is a rarity in France, at least where we are. Most of the roads we follow are “part of the mountain”. There are no obvious signs of blasting or carving of the mountain to make the road ‘more efficient’.

The same can be said of the homes and farm buildings. Where there is an earthen bank, for example, the bank is not leveled. The barn used that bank as a partial wall. It makes perfect sense. It also adds to the ambience of the area. The people are part of the environment here. They don’t dominate it. They don’t make it cookie cutter, non-descript residences like many places back in Canada. But then here, life is not about the generation of money. It is more about life.

As we cross to Soleur, we stop our bikes, cars stop, motorcycles stop. There are 4 huge white Pyrenees dogs herding sheep across the road. They dogs keep the sheep going up the edge of the road, which is really steep. The dogs pay no mind to us. There is no shepherd in sight. This is fascinating. I really enjoy this authentic piece of the journey.

Soleur from this side is a mild climb.

We descend back to the main village where we are freezing. It is raining as well. One of our guides, Imogene, slices her hand with a knife. My own blood, I have no problem with. Other people’s blood, I don’t like that.

As we eat lunch near the support van, there is a market nearby. I am amazed at the number of dogs walking perfectly contently beside their masters without a leash. The dogs heel perfectly, focused on keeping up with their masters.

After lunch, we head back to Luz St Savoir, the town we spent the first night in. We are going to climb the 2nd most famous mountain the Tour de France, the HC rated Col de Tourmoulet.

Gareth and Vince are both men on a mission. Gareth, because he wants to conquer the Col, come what may. Vince because he wants to see how close he can come to Pantanni’s (sp) climb record of 50 minutes up the 18km pass.

Eleven kms from the top, I stop my bike and dismount. I do not feel like climbing up the Col. The fog is coming in, the rain is starting and it is getting cold. It will only be worse at the top. Then comes the descent. Descending is than climbing because of the cold and the speed. Sorry guys, there is only so much rain and cold I can endure. I will pass.

While standing at the side of the road with Imogene and Philippe, a 60 year old man comes pedaling up the road, with a hugely laden bike. We offer him a banana and he stops. Turns out he is from Holland. His bike weighs 18 kg (mine doesn’t even weight 18 pounds).The panniers (saddle bags) weight another 20 kg. The man himself is a bear. Probably 6 feet tall and built like a linebacker (heavy boned, heavily muscled). His physique and demander belie his 60 some odd years.

He cycles the same route every year for the past 7 years. From Holland, down thru the Pyrenees, the Alps and back to Holland. He sleeps in barns or wherever else he can get a place to lay his head. Interesting fellow.

I was glad I was in the van. At the top it is absolutely miserable. Cold, foggy, wet.

Vince climbed the Col in 1 hr 15 min. Which is very impressive. He is a very strong climber.

Then you do some quick math, and Pantanni climbed the same pass (probably in better weather), 25 minutes faster. It makes you appreciate how strong a climber he was.

Matt and Hugh come in at 1 hr 35 minutes. The rest trail in later.

We wait for everyone in the restaurant at the top of the Col. It is small, warm, rustic. There is a woman just as you enter the building who has a huge rectangular iron skillet, heated by natural gas. She pours batter out of a very large bowl on to the hot skillet then uses a six inch wooden ‘squeegee’ to smooth out the batter. She is making crepes. They look delicious. It is only afterwards that I think I should have bought one.

Other than myself, only my roommate, Pete, does not climb the Tourmoulet. Pete took a wrong turn coming down Soleur and the tour leader, David, drove out to get him.

The evening meal was very good. For starters we have bowl after bowl of soup. Then came the chicken and roasted veggies and pasta. Desert was a caramel ‘cake’, very nice.

The architecture of this town is very cool, very ‘Swiss Alps’ style.

Later that evening some of the guys can’t believe I did not climb Tourmoulet. They say how can a guy come from another continent, spend all that money and NOT climb the Tourmoulet, the 2nd most famous mountain in the Tour de France? I say that once you have climbed one mountain in the Alps, you have climber them all. I am then reminded that we are in the Pyrenees, not the Alps.

At least we have more bears in Canada! 

Monday Aug 6th

Very foggy. It did not rain on the way up, but rained on the way down for BOTH climbs!

First climb, Col de Soleur, was up and down. Roads were typical country roads. I liked the access to this pass. We snaked into a small picturesque town (Aregeles-Gazost?), then climbed up and out, overlooking the town centre. Very nice.

While climbing, my heart rate was 164 - so much for my plan of keeping my HR at 154!

It was so foggy that you could barely see 20 yards.

I came to a valley with a hairpin turn and I saw an 'Alps' style house, the cows with bells ringing and you could see the valley! It was an awesome sight!

The descent was down a 1 lane road. I had the brakes on alot. It was wet, cold and visibility was poor. Not pleasant riding weather.

Second climb, up Col de Spandelles. The road was better, but still foggy. Road was much better on the descent. Coolest part of the ride was seeing the cows and sheep right at the side of the road! No fences... which is odd, because elsewhere in France, there are fences everywhere. Must be to keep people out. Up here, it is so isoltaed, that few people come. Those that do come probably respect the land.

The hills/mountains go on and on. As I don't know the roads and as this is the 1st day of riding, plus I don't know if I am in good enough shape to climb here for 6 days, so I don't push it. I do try a few climbing strategies.
- Looking as far ahead as I can (which is not far in the fog). This does not work well.
- Looking 4 feet in front of my wheel seems to be the best approach, with the occasional look up or off to the side.
- ensuring I pull back at the bottom of my pedal stroke. But not over emphasizing this.
- sitting tall and making sure I do slow deep breaths...

Transfer to new hotel was long. Dinner there was fantastic. Macaroni, an awesome tomatoe sauce and lamb.The lamb was cut like a steak, but thinner. Very nice. Restaurant atmosphere was very pleasant.

List of climbs and height (in metres)

### Beats me why this photo posted sideways - it is the right side up on my Mac!

Sunday Aug 5
- Luz St. Ardiden.....: 1,715 m

Monday Aug 6
- Col du Soleur........: 1,474 m
- Col de Spandelles.: 1,378 m
- then transfer to Eaux-Bonnes (city)

Tuesday Aug 7
- Col d'Aubisque.....: 1,709 m (HC rated)
- Col du Soleur........: 1,474 m (climbed from opposite side - from d'Aubisque)
- Col de Tourmalet..: 2,110 m (HC rated)

Wednesday Aug 8
- Col d'Aspin.............: 1,489 m
- Col de Peyresourde.: 1,569 m
- Col de Portiller........: 1,293 m
- stay in Bossert (Spain)

Thursday Aug 9
- Col de Mente..............: 1,349 m
- Col de Portet d'Aspet.: 1,069 m
- Col del la Core...........: 1,395 m
- Col du Saraille...........: 942 m
- stay in Masset

Friday Aug 10
- Col de Porte................: 1,249 m
- Col du Marmares.........: 1,361 m
- Col du Chicula ...........: 1,431
- stay in Ax au Thermes

Saturday Aug 11 (final riding day)
- Col de Pailheres
- Col de Garavell (sp?)
- Col de Jau

Sunday Aug 5th - 1st day in France

I am sitting on the covered patio of the Hotel Le Montagu in Luz St. Sauveur, France. It is raining so hard. Huge drops are coming straight down, yet the sun is shining thru the dark clouds in places as they are blown over the mountain tops. It is warm, mid 20s. I can hear one of the many creeks ripple and churn towards the river.

Eight of the riders rode Luz St Arden (sp?). It is an HC (hors categorie - beyond classification ie extremely difficult). All of them said it was hard. I skipped that climb as I have not been on my bike in one week.

Instead, I went for a short ride on my own for about 1 hour to loosen up. I then hit the public pool. I figure there is plenty of time for inflicting some 'hurt' on myself in later rides.

The day started at 4:30 AM. I was out of the hotel by 5:00 AM and on the shuttle bus. I have my huge bike box (about 4' x 3' x 1.5'). Good thing it is on wheels. I put my day bag and my suitcase on top of it. I have lots to carry.

When I get to Stansted airport just after 5:00AM, I don't think it colud get any busier! The place is a hive of peopel, barely able to move. I am sure I have made a huge mistake and worry that I will miss my flight. I navigate to the RyanAir check iin for Pau France and am releived that there are only 2 people ahead of me. Apparently I am 'late' checking in. this place is crazy busy.

We land in Pau and meet all the riders. In no particular order:
- Hugh
- Gareth
- Geoff
- Matt
- Vince
- Donise
- Nick
- Phil
- Peter

Our guides are:
- David
- Imogene
- Phillipe (driver)

(The pictures are from our night in Spain)

I should also mention...

London is not for the faint of wallet - it takes alot of money to buy anything in that city. But it is an amazing city. I would recommend it to anyone who wants to see history and have a great tourist experience.

Friday Aug 3rd to Sat Aug 4th - London, England

Flight went very well. All reservations that I made on the internet were ready when I was. I am still impressed with what you can do over the web.

The flight was long (8hrs), then a transfer to Stansted airport was very long. It was about a 12.5 hour day (7:00 AM Eastern time to 7:30PM Eatern - or 12:30 UK time)

I slept until 8:30 then caught the shuttle Stansted Express to Liverpool Station. I was suprised at both the cost of the trip (approx 20 pounds or $45 CDN) adn the amount of open space beside the tracks. It is not wilderness like in Canada with bears (inside joke for the people on the trip) but small farms. Something that is in risk of becoming extinct in Canada.

I take the subway to I believe it was Charing Cross Station, and go to the British Museum (http://www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk/). I am very impressed with the Greek, Roman and Egyption exhibits. I am amazed at the 'History of Mankind' exhibit which shows the evolution of mankinds thoughts over the 'Age of Enlightenment' (starting approx 1400 AD). This room is absolutely stunning in its design. The ability for people to capture and organize rocks, marble, seashells, ancient books, weapons - absolutely anything - and to see many of these items in person vs virtually over the web or in a book - is incredible. I missed the Chinese Terracotta warriors exhibit but I had to get onto my next stop.

I look at my tourist map to find the 'Horse Guards' and it does not look far on the map. In reality, I started the hike, was amazed at the number of people walking up and down the street, that I went backl top the subway. I shold say the the subway system is aboslutely incredible. Toronto's subway looks like it was designed by a child in comparison. London's underground is complex and way, way, way down underground. I wold be interested in finding out more about how it came to be and the hurdles that were faced in building it. I am sure it was way more costly than Toronto's subway system.

I get to the proper stop and walk to Trafalger Square. I am again in awe of what the 'English Empire' has/had built frrom its world domination.

I thank a cabbie for not running me over as I was engrossed in getting a picture. If I was in Toronto, I know I would have got the horn and a rude message. In England, everyone I meet is very friendly and patient. Something people in Toronto could learn.

I get over to the Horse Guards building and am amazed by the size of the groounds where the various celebrations and exhibitions are held. Roughly. I would say the pebble strewn field is about the size of 15 to 20 football fields.

An ancient cannon captured from a middle eastern country many years ago sits outside the newly opened Horse Gurad museum (July 18, 2007). This cannon is very large and ornate, with crocodiles and other symbols embossed on it.

The Horse Museum is cool - if you like horses and history. The horse guards were created in order to be the 'personal guards' of the kings and queens. Here is more info: http://www.army.mod.uk/ceremonialandheritage/household/queens_life_guard.htm

I see the changing of the Horse Guards and head past 'Her Majesty's Gardens' replete with a 20 piece orchestra (or there abouts) playing in the park! I am on my way to St James castle, which is where theyt have a smaller changing of guard. It is less well known than Buckingham Palace, but you can walk right up to the guards if you choose. When I get there, someone is doing something silly in front of the guards, they pay him no heed.

I get to see an inspection of the guard, but not the changing. It was still impressive.

Later on, I run into a man who used to be a guard at St James Castle. I asked him how he handle the fools trying to make him laugh. He said he pciked an object down the road and focused on it.

Before I leave London, I stop in at a bar and order fish & chips. The barkeeper asks me if I want garden peas or mushy peas. I go for garden. I say I want to try an real Englihs Ale but I am unsure of it. He offers me a taste. I go with a German lager. We have the same fish and chips in Canada - but I think you have to say you had fish & chips in London!

I catch the subway back to the train and while walking to the train, there is loud chanting and singing - football preseason has started! It is a bit intimidating to hear the loud group - especially considering teh 'hooligan image' of English soccer fans.

I talk to a fellow from Germany who is on a shopping trip with his 13 year old son. Did you know you can get designer T-shirts for about 10 Euros less than in Germany? They both buy lots.

I make my way up to Stansted.

The real challenge starts tomorrow - getting to the airport at 5:30AM!

The reason why I did not post last week...

... is because I could not get internet access! We were mainly in small towns, where there were no internet cafes, let alone internet service!

Anyway, what I have decided to do is to post the info, but 1 week later. I was hoping for real time, but like the airport firefighter's strike in Perpignon, stuff happens...

One week to departure!

Here is the itinerary:
- One week from now (Friday August 3rd) I will leaving Toronto and arriving in London England.
- I will spend 2 nights and 1 day in London before heading out for Pau, France (near the Atlantic) on August 5th.
- I will cycle with the group for 6 days through the Pyrenees, mainly in France, but going into Spain for a short jaunt.
- I will be coming back to London from Perpignon (near the Mediterranean) on Sunday Aug 12th, then flying back to Toronto on Monday Aug 13th.

There will be 10 riders going with Saddle Skeddadle on the Pyrenee's trip (http://classicroad.skedaddle.co.uk/holiday/226/view.rails). I will be the only one from outside of the UK. Skeddadle has been around for years so I am expecting a great experience.

This route is going to be a real challenge. Not only going up the mountains, but coming down as well!
What is life without a serious challenge every now and again? What kind of life would that be?

I just bought all new gear about 1.5 weeks ago. An all carbon fibre bike (Kuota Ksano) with really tight gear ratios, plus a compact crank that I will put on just before I go. This will let me climb the steepest grades (if my heart and lungs hold out!)

I have been training for over 3 months, logging lots of kms. Last week I put on 377 km (all on the new bike). The fit was good and I had no sore spots :)

I was getting sick of riding as every ride for the longest time was to either go harder for longer or just go longer.

It was nice last wekend to do a short 60 km ride with no pressure. Four of us split from the main group we had been riding with (Oakville Cycle Club) and rode easy. The next day, 35 of us went from Burlington to Elora and back (exaclty 160 km), with a nice stop in Rockwood. That ride was sponsored by Neworld, where I have dropped many $ over the past 7 years I have been cycling. I must say that I get good value for my money from them. Jeff and Victor really know cycling.

Having never seen mountains like the Pyrenees, it is very intimidating. We have some steep climbs around the Niagara Escarpment, but they are mostly short, well under 1 km. The Pyrennees will be steep AND long (10-14 km or more).