Day Two - it didn't get easier!

A quick post as I am totalled after today; 155 km and 4300 m of climbing, a really big day!

The scenery was unbelievable as we traversed the Col de Marie Blanque, the Col d'Aubisque, and to finish, the Col du Tourmalet. Hardest day on a bike of my life, if a car had appeared on the Tourmalet, I would have got in, no question! Today we rode about 15 km in total that were 10% gradient or greater, which was very intimidating, not to say very hard too! There were a number of ramps (8 or 10) that went to 16 and 18%, and without a compact crank, there were just weight lifting and not that much fun really.

The descents were fabulous, including one of 20 km and another of about 15! Again, I have never travelled at 60 km/h or over for 15 + mins at a time on twisty, swoopy mountain roads - great fun!

Some photos of great rural village scenes! Video tomorrow with any luck!

Day one of the Raid de Pyrenee!

Today was day one of the Raid ride and began with a gentle ride down to the start point in Hendaye, Spain. We got our 'passports' stamped at the tourist office (a condition of being officially registered for the Raid ride) and we were off on our 160 km first day.

There are some great buildings in Hendaye, here is one! 

The ten of us doing the Raid ride. I continued with my pursuit of the goal of swimming in the Indian and Atlantic oceans, and the Mediterranean sea in my three week journey!

Out guide says today was an easy day - if so, I am a little concerned about tomorrow and the next three days! It was a solid 160 km with 2500 m of climbing, mostly in short power climbs but with a couple of slightly longer cols included. For me, it was punctuated by another unneccessary fall, landing again on the hip I hurt in the fall in Australia - pretty uncomfortable but no real damage done, I don't think. Some amazing scenery, impressive architecture, great roads and several terrific descents!

Village square in one of the many small Spanish and French towns we rode through.

A restored, original 2CV Citroen!

We are currently in a hotel (Au Bon Coin) above the village of St Christo, and reflecting on today while being slightly (!!) concerned about tomorrow. Tomorrow's day is short on kms (only 130) but big on climbing (near 4000 m) with the Col de Marie Blanc, followed by the Col d'Aubisque and then the Tourmalet. There are some other, smaller cols too but not worth listing in comparison to these three!

It will be an interesting day, with the goal of leaving early and just maintaining a steady tempo through the day. It will be about 7 hours in the saddle with a stop for lunch making it an 8 or so hour day.

A day in Spain when it didn't rain (on the plain, or anywhere else!).

A quick entry before the start!

Tomorrow we begin the Raid de Pyrenee sportif ride. This is a ride from the west coast, right on the border of Spain and France, to the east coast in the Southern corner of France (just south of Perpignan),  Atlantic to Mediterranean, right through the Pyrenees mountains. It is an event started in the 1950's by a Basque cycling club and requires participants to complete the 720 kms and 11,000 m of climbing in 100 hours (4 days and 4 hours).

We will be starting at 9 am tomorrow and need to finish by 1 pm on Wednesday to qualify. Along the way we have a number of checkpoints where we need to get a 'passport' stamped to prove we have ridden the route. It is a very testing ride at about 180 km and 2,500 m on average each day. We will be climbing many of the iconic cols of the Pyrenees, and I am sure the scenery will be magnificent - photos to follow.

I promised I would up load some video from around Saint Savin, see below, but it is only a short piece as the upload is very slow. Also below are some photos of various sites and buildings I found interesting.

More tomorrow!

The abbey at Saint Savin dominates the village from every angle!

The Lourdes Town Hall is nearly as impressive.

This is the super fast bike trail from Pierrefittes to Lourdes. Beautiful surface on an old train line, complete with old stations turned into cafe's - 20 km of bike heaven!

The streets in Inrun are traditional Spanish

The Atlantic water is warm and the surf is great (so are the coffee and the beer!).