Easy last ride - don’t think so!! Setting off for home today we had some tight time lines that we had to maintain so as not to miss our flight. That being said we wanted to fit in one last climb and after much deliberation, sitting on our beds last night, we decided to embark upon Porte de Bales. It is not a climb that would resonate with most but those who have attempted it will talk about it for many years to come. Being a little more organised this morning we set off around 09:30am and headed for Mauleon-Barousse about a 25 minute drive from Loudet. The village was still asleep when we arrived but it detracted little from the beauty that masqueraded it. The first 6k or 7k was pleasant bei
Today was the day that we had saved for our biggest effort yet, tackling two category HC climbs; Col du Tourmalet and Col d’Aspin. With the Pyrenees visible first thing this morning, rising above the valley mist, we knew that today would be hot and hard. Logistics played a key part to tackling these titans as from our base it meant a drive of 90 minutes to a lay by just outside of Luz-Saint-Sauveur, ride up Tourmalet, descend back down, drive up Tourmalet, descend the other side, drive for an hour to the base of Aspin, drive over it to descend the other side, park up in Arreau, ride back up the descent we made in the car and then ride back down. Just reading it back leaves me gasping for b
Waking up this morning we both knew that we had been riding hard, the descent down the staircase to breakfast was slow. The upside was the smell of freshly baked bread and homemade jams in addition to the bowl of porridge with banana and honey; the perfect fuel for the day. We set off down towards Luchon again and parked up in our lay-by as today we wanted to tackle Col de Peyresourde (Col P) then drive towards Arreau to climb Pla d'Adet. Spinning our legs for 6k was the hardest yet. Skirting round the town we followed the signs to Col P. Brian, from the B&B, told us that the initial climb would be hotter than it actually was as the heat would reflect off the shear rock face that we ha
We awoke to a robbery this morning!!! Looking out of the window it appeared that some kind hearted person had stolen the Pyrenees. Covered in a blanket of mist our spectacular view from our room was replaced with a grey dull sky. Not to worry, Brian informed us at breakfast, it will burn off very quickly and the sun will light up your days’ climbing. Great!!! We drove 10k outside of Bangeres-de-Luchon and left our trusty stead in a lay-by. This would give us time to spin our legs out before attacking the first climb. Well, using the word attack is probably a little too aggressive given that we were carrying yesterdays climbing in our legs. Superbangeres it was then or as we renamed it Su
With a 05.15am pick up Tim and I both decided that we would take it easy when we set off from Loudet where we are based. The converted farm house is owned by Marianne and Brian and is absolutely lovely with a small gite off to the side should you not wish to be in the large house. Not that we have experienced it yet, it has a wonderful swimming pool with a view to die for; watch this space!! We decided that we would go for a gentle ride out to Col de Mente (category 1 climb) and take in the rustic French countryside and architecture. The quality of the roads are incredible,with little rolling resistance and the cars giving you plenty of space and respect when passing. What could go wrong?
How does one set about an epic adventure? Simple; decide upon a really crazy idea and start putting together the logistics! But can it really be that easy? Tim and I thought it would be a great idea to tackle some of the best climbs ever to appear in the Tour de France whilst raising funds through Eat Cake Tri Cycling for a deserving charity: Cyclists Fighting Cancer. As mad as it sounds, for any keen cyclist who loves the Tour de France (TdF), the attraction has always been to try and replicate what our idols achieve day after day. As much as we would like to devote three weeks to our self-imposed challenge, we find ourselves restricting our efforts to four full days of riding. In thi
