Fly High deBry: 2009

Monday, October 5, 2009

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

We woke up to rain but the sky looked like it might clear in the direction we were going. We had a breakfast of corn flakes and croissants. I also had some local cheese that was pretty good. This place we stayed, like all the hotels we stayed at in these little towns, are family owned and run. The wife cooked all the food and the town comes to have dinner in the dinning room. It is a great atmosphere. After breakfast I put on all my warm gear and we set off. Eric (our guide) was hammering at the from from the start. We wound up through these little tiny towns to the first climb of the day that is as hard as the Tourmalet. It is long and very steep with sections of 14% sustained. Its name is Col de Bagaui but we callled it Col de Bag-o-gooie. We hit the first part and I drilled it. The first 6km are around 10% and I reached the little town first. There is a very short descent and then the climb continues. The roads were wet and at the bottom of the short descent was a 90 degree turn over a small stone bridge. I took the turn wide and hit gravel on the far side. I slid into the bridge wall and took the impact on my saddle and left shoe then went over the handlebars. One of the Aussies behind me had taken a more narrow turn and slid out too. I got up and checked the bike out. It was fine other than my saddle was toast. I had a small rip in my glove and my knuckle wa bleeding a little. My left show cover had a little tear in it. Everything else was fine. The sag wagon came down the hill and we found that the spare saddles are in the other van that was up on the climb somewhere. i thought about climbing it without the saddle and then replacing the saddle at the top but descided against it. Matil (the driver of our sag wagon) took my bike and me up the climb and we caught the other van about 4 km fromn the summit. I hurried and put a replacement saddle on, checked the height and began descending back down the climb. I caught the group, went below them and began climbing again. We reached the summit and the Assies were pretty nervous about descending in the rain so they got in the van for the descent. I descended fairly cautiously to the town of St Lary Sulon were we stopped and had pizzas at a cafe. Mine was some kind of local cheese wtih goat and chicken meat on it. It was really good. The rain had stopped as we finished lunch so we set out for the last 3 climbs of the trip. The next climb was the Col d'Ispigi (we called it I-spy-a-guy). It is not a long climb (comparing it to the monsters we had been over) and the grade is more reasonable, about 6%. I took off at the start and the stronger of the Aussies came after me on my wheel. After about a km I attacked him and dropped him. I then sat and pulled away putting about 2 minutes into him by the top of the climb. We descended and rode through several little quite villages to the 3rd climb of the day. It sounds like Col de Ox-tongue but is spelled much more French like. I attacked at the bottom again and the other Aussie covered me. I stood and attacked again with him right on my wheel, he then counter attacked hard and got 15 meters on me. I could tell it took alot our of him. i clawed him back and counter attacked him putting him 40 meters behind me. I thought he was gone for good but 100meters from the summit he charged back and passed me I recovered and beat him on the line by less then a foot. That win was great. We descended and were in a 2 man pace line with Jan and I driving at the front to the final climb of the trip. The roads had dried and the sun was out. We went through a little area of traffic and so narrowed to single file with me at the front. There was a curve in the road, slightly down hill, on new road that we came to. I didn't notice it but there was a tree on the apex of the corner that was dripping on the road and shaded the apex, keeping it wet. I was not going fast but slid out in the corner. Jan was right behind me and, which he tried to jump me, ended up hitting me and going over his handlebars. I scrapped my hands and smaked my head on the pavement breaking my helmet. I also had a rasberry on my right shoulder and right hip. We were lucky there were no cars coming the other direction. It coulde have been much worse. The bike was fine. I was again reminded why I spend $140 on a helmet and why I will again. Eric asked if he should call up the van but I felt fine and wanted to finish the last climb of the trip and ride to the hotel. We got back to it and at the bottom of the climb Jan went, I followed and the Assies were close behind. I attacked Jan and got a good lead. In the last 100 meters one of the Aussies powered by me. He was flying, seated. I almost lost the drive with how fast he went by me but I was pretty angry about sliding out earlier so I went to my drops, geared down and sprinted after him. I caught him and flew by him taking the last summit and a hat-trick for the day. We rolled the rest of the way to the hotel on the Atlantic Ocean and showered. Jan and I walked down to a cafe and had sandwiches to hold us over until dinner. Dinner was salad, a great dish of rice and chicken with this local red sauce, and a dessert of strawberries on a flakey pastry. It was really good. We all talked over dinner about the days of riding over the Pyrenees and what our favorite partrs were. It is neat to think that we rode from the Mediteranean Sea to the Atlantic Ocean over the biggest mountians in cycling and we rode every inch. It took 36hrs and 30min of saddle time. I haven't calculated the total distance but it is something like 600-700miles and around 50,000 vertical feet of climbing in 7 days. It is actually in 6 days as the first day was a warm up loop and the 2nd day was when we left the coast.

This is that dessert from last night "il floataine de la mason". Good gravy! A sweet death.

Had to jam on the breaks on the descent for this group of sheep

This col came right after Bag-o-gooey. Check out that name! Sheesh.

Panorama of our finishing town

Done with lunch and time to keep rolling

The beach at the end of the trip

Our lunch stop

One of many fantastic descents

Bag o gooie

Ready to leave in the morning for the last day's ride

After lunch, Mic snapping the photo

This is from the day to Luchon (on well, the order is out I guess

Friday, June 5, 2009

Trans-Pyrenees Trip day 6

Woke up today feeling like I had been hit by a car. I was very tired. Breakfast was 3 bowls of cereal and 2 croissants. I'm slowing down on the breakfast intake. We then saddled up and immediately began climbing the Col de Soulor. Steep climb 12km long with about 600 meters of climbing. At the top were a herd of cattle and then these wild mountain horses came running down the mountain, right by us, and back up the other side of the mountain. It was pretty cool. We descended the mountain and began the climb of the Col d'Aubisque. This is a road cut right in the side of the cliff face. really beautiful. We went through a couple of tunnels in the cliff face too. At the top of the d'Aubisque we put our jackets on and did the descent. It is a long descent into the town of Laruns where we stopped and had a ham and cheese sandwich on a bagette. This was very good. The rain had begun falling so I put on a base layer (there is no better base layer than merino wool) and we headed toward the Col de Marie Blanque. This is really cool climb. The road is very narrow, narrower than a lane at home, but good pavement. It cuts up through a lush green forest that was thick with clouds. There is a flat section near the top that was absolutely beautiful. The descent was tricky owing to the rain and the road surface being bad. By the bottom the rain was heavy and did not let up the rest of the ride. We road through many tiny towns with little stone buildings before turning off onto the last climb of the day the Col d'Ichere. This is a 5km climb that gains 500meters in elevation. I figured that since I had set an easy pace up the first 3 climbs that I would hit this one hard (that and the coke that I had with the sandwich back in Laruns had kicked in). One of the Australian riders with us went with me and then attacked me. I held himn at about 100meters for most of the climb and then began to pull him back right before the last km which is only 3%. Our guide Sim (who is a cat 1 international racer) was chasing me and when I caught the Australian, Sim caught me. I went by the Aussi at 500m to go but Sim attacked hard. I had 20 meters on the Aussi and no chance of pulling back Sim. Thinking I had 2nd I had a rude awakening when the last 50meters to the summit was straight up. That was all I had. Third would have to do.

The descent was beautiful following this creek down through a green, moss-covered canyon and throught the occasional sleepy town. A cow did walk right out into the road infront of me and stopped. I slowed but had to pick whether to pass around its head or its rear as it was taking up almost the whole road. I chose the head. All of the animals that I have encountered in the road on this trip never make a move when you pass them. i think they know that you'll be gone in a second. The next 30 or so km were over rolling terrain, green farms, cows. We made it to the hotel in Marmote, stripped down, showered and as there were 4 hours until dinner I took a 45 minute nap. The only thing really happening in the small village was our hotel and the small general store. I went and got some nuts and raisins. Played some foosball on the oldest foosball table you've ever seen (equiped with built in ash trays). Dinner was 4 courses. Started out with soup and bread, net was a great salad with cheese, main was a half chicken with pasta and a great red sauce that had paprika in and around it. Desert was the best thing I've had at the meals yet. It was a peice of maragne (sp) floating in some kind of butterscotch sauce. I could have eatten myself to death on that. The weather tomorrow is supposed to be more rain and the climbing profile is as hard as the hardest day we have had. I'm pumped.

cows on the Col de Soulor

Jan on top of the d'Aubisque

View from our window prior to leaving the hotel to begin the climb of the Soulor (that is the d'Aubisque with the snow on it.

The wild horses of the d"Aubisque

This is actually the Tourmalet (how'd this photo get in this day's report?)

The crew on the d'Aubisque

This is where we ate after descending off the d"aubisque, ham and cheese sandwiches and coke.

Between the Col du Solour and the d'Aubisque

Dinner that night

Top of the Col Du Marie Blanque

Bottom of the d'Aubisque

Thursday, June 4, 2009

Trans-Pyrenees Trip day 5

Today was the Queen's Stage of the tour. We woke up and had the buffet for breakfast. No pastries for me just eggs, rolls and 4 bowls of cereal. Pastries come later. We then headded out of Luchon and immediately up the Col de Peyresourde. 16km climb with 1000meters of climing. It was beautiful. We took the pace easy, except for the sprint at the top. On the descent I hit 75kph (47mph). Fast and really fun. We then hit up the town of Arreau for a pastry (nutella filled dougnut). We then headded up the Col d'Aspin which is about 15km in length and gains about 800 meters of elevation. This descent was great too.

This place at the top of the Peyresourde had creps 12 for 4.50

The cows with Jan at the top of the Col d'Aspin.

We then got some lunch (ham and cheese sandwich with a crep and began the ascent of the Col du Tourmalet. This it a monster climb of 16km gaining almost 2000meters in elevation at a consistent grade of 8-9%. This is the statue at the top, the fisrt organizer of the Tour de France.

This is the bar/cafe that is on the top.

in the bar/cafe they had this awesome pie-type thing called gato basque. That thing was so dang good.

Jan enjoying the beverage

Shot half way down the Tourmalet

the descent off the Tourmalet is fast and loooong. At the bottom is the town of Luz St Sauveur where the rest of the group headded for the hotel but Jan and I went and added on the 16km climb up Luz Ardiden. This as an absolutely magnificent climb with incredible pavement, corners and views. It was cloudy at the top but here are the pictures.

We then eaded back the last 30 km to the hotel (half of which was up hill). We showered and had a huge dinner of pasta, salad, rolls, ice cream, duck, cheese..I could go on and on.

All in all we were 7 and a half hours on the bike, 148km and 15,644 vertical feet of climbing. That was a day that I will describe when I'm old and senile, "hard?, you think that is hard, I ever tell you tender feet about the time I climbed 4 beyond category mountains in one day......"