Day 6 : 24th June : Prades to Angeles sur Mer

The sun was shining for this final 70km dash to the Med. We were to stop after 40 clicks at Thuile before getting the group together and doing a steady roll into Angeles.

Lunch stop in Thuile

Fast 40 kph ride to Thuile on lovely smooth flat road. Very enjoyable. Coffee and then the final roll to the Mediterranean.

Can't describe the feelings as I rolled to a halt with the beach and Med stretching before me. 448 miles on my speedo trip computer and 12000 metres of serious climbing. This was a fantastic trip, hard at times but imensely rewarding. Seeing the donations coming in to help Steve made it all the more gratifying.

On way to brain surgery now to have my brain rewired to stop me doing these crazy things !!!!

Chris

Day 5: 23rd June : Tarascon to Prades

Despite feeling good yesterday (apart from an increasingly sore rear end !) I realized as soon as we set off that the cumulative effect was taking it's toll on my legs. On the flat everthing felt sluggish and I even thought I had a slow puncture.

This 120km stage was going to be tough. Still as it was the final day of climbs I was determined to give it a bit of stick.

Andy, Neil & Vinny on the Col de Marmare

After a short 5km roll we started climbing up the Route des Corniche, a steady 6km climb. Once I got going the legs seemed OK so I pushed on and went away from my normal group. A steady descent followed which seemed to drag and after a short refresh stop we started up the Col de Marmare. This is quite long at 14km but the gradient is steady and consistent at around 4-5%. Set off just in front of Andy, Neil and Vinny who went passed me and up the road by about 200m. Really felt good on this climb and gradually closed on them and rode the last 8km with them. Well pleased as they are normally well ahead of me.

At the top of the climb it was very wet and misty. The descent to our lunch stop was cold and miserable.

After lunch we set off toward the last climb, the Col de Jau. This looked very tough at 18km with gradients of 8-12%. I was following Bob who was following Neil, who was following Manny and we all missed a right hand turn and ended up going off piste for 15km.

Looking back down the Col de Jau

Whether it was this, the cumulative effects of the last 4 days or the weather which had turned wet and windy but when I got onto the lower slopes of the Jau my legs decided to get the train home ! Jau was not exactly my best climb. Just ground it out and finally made it to the 1800metre summit. As we broke the tree line at the summit the crosswind blew me from one side of the road to the other! At the support van Pete told us to get some layers on and go and get drinks and food in the bus shelter - yep a bus stop on top of mountain pass !



The descent was not that nice, cold, wet and bumpy. Hands went numb ( no, not a heart attack!) and my arse was feeling every bump.

Only 70 clicks to go to the Mediterranean tomorrow and no hills to climb !!!!

Day 4. Bertran to Tarascon

This stage is 130 km with three climbs totalling 1700m. Seen by most as a light day with shorter, lowish gradient climbs of the Col des Ares, D'aspet and Col de Port.

Nice 10km ride to the Col des Ares. If you saw this hill coming on a normal Sunday ride you would quietly curse, turn round and go home ! but by now I saw it as a minor climb !! Ripped up it about 6th in the group and when our tour leader, Chris Balfour set off on the descent I was on his wheel and we had a superb descent and I found myself at the front of the group. Well pleased that only 4 guys passed me up the slightly harder Col d'Aspet which again I was pleased at my consistency on.

After an easy 20km we stopped for lunch and then set off up the longer Col de Port. Joined up with Andy and we rode up together and even had a sprint at the top which he won. It was drizzling rain by now and we were all wet and a bit cold. The open fire in the cafe was very welcome. Waterproofs went on for the descent.

 

A pleasant roll in to our hotel for 20 clicks - sorry, picking up the cycling slang - a click is either a kilometre or kph. Arrived about 4.30 so we all decamped to a bar. I had been abstaining from alcohol up until now but treated myself to a Panache - A shandy and a "croq monsieur" which is ham and a soft cheese sauce on toasted bread. This supplementary meal went down well.

Followed this snack with the best meal of the week, Double helping of vegetable soup followed by Salmon and Lemon Sorbet. Then a main course of Duck l'orange and a desert of apple pie.

Looking forward to the last climbing day.

Day 3 : 21st June : Luz St Sauveur to Betran

This stage is 110 km (75 miles) with 2 big climbs. The first is the Col de Tourmelet, the best known iconic climb of the Tour de France at 17km long to an altitude of 2115m.

My legs are now showing some cumulative effects. In particular the quadracepts ( big muscle that runs down the front of your thigh which is balanced by the Hamstring on the back of the thigh) which are now tender to the touch. Once you start pedalling though, they are fine.

Early slopes of the Col de Tourmelet

From the hotel we rolled along for about 20km to the base of the climb. The sun was getting stronger - this is going to be a hot climb. Started steadily and found the going OK for the first 5km.

Some of the stunning scenery on the Col de Tourmelet

The gradient ramped up then but still felt good. With about 7km to go things started to get very tough. No shelter from the heat but with a couple of ¨"confidence" stops I made it to the top in 2hrs 11mins. Nice rest then a long fast descent. You don't get the chance to do over 40mph on a bike for 10 miles very often so I went for it. Exilerating, reached 47mph a couple of times and had one slide round a corner which I went into a bit hot which was a bit of an adrennelin rush !! (Still alive Chloe).

Me at the top of the Col de Tourmelet

After lunch we climbed the Col d'Aspin. A shorter but quite testing climb which I ripped up. Well impressed with myself !! The descent was awesome. Fast, scenic and with lovely combinations of corners. Also there were loads of other riders so spent the whole descent in overtake mode. It's immensely rewarding getting your line right and outbraking slower descenders into corners. Caught another fast rider and we had a great "race" to the bottom which I won, and shook hands.

The group got together and we set off on the 40km ride to our hotel in Betran. Big headwind for first 10km and the quick guys on the front set off at a cracking pace. Us mere mortals just hung onto the train at 25mph. It's best to keep in the tow even if you are going this quick as toiling into the wind is a lot harder. Riding 10 inches from the rear wheel of the guy in front gets the adrenelin pumping and you need to be alert.

Dropped off the peloton after we turned along with a few others and we formed our own peloton for the remaining 30k to Betran at about 18mph.

The wind was a sign of a weather front moving in and we started to get some light rain as we approached Betran. Expecting some dodgy weather tomorrow.

Slept better and was well up for Day 4. Definitely finding my climbing legs.

Chris

Day 2 20th June : Gurmencon to Argeles Gazost

This stage is 110 km (75 miles). This is the Pyrenees proper with 2 big climbs. The first is the Col de Marie Blanc, a 13km climb to 1035 metres followed by the Col d'Aubisque, a 15km climb to 1500 metres;

Smiling faces before the ascent of the Marie Blanc

Kevin, the guy on the front in the picture went off at a fair pace. I got into my rythm and gradually rode away from the rest of the group, caught and passed Kevin, finished strong as well. Well pleased !! It's about 13km with about 3km near the top of between 10 & 13% gradient - a tough climb.

First long, fast descent was a buzz !!

Without realising it I think I had burnt quite a bit of energy on the Marie Blanc and the Aubisque was a lot tougher. Still, made it and after a break set off on the descent with 2 other s in our group, Bob and Dave. The Col de Soulor barely regestered and then we had a 40km ride to our hotel. The last 20km was dead flat and I enjoyed the "train" with each of us taking a turn on the front at about 23mph. Great fun.

Chris

Cycling the Pyrenees Day 1 19th June : Bairritz to Gurmencon.

The day of departure from Biarritz arrived and we set off at 8.30 - 100 miles with 2 Minor Cols - St Ignace and Osquich. Very hot day so consumed 8 litres of water. St Ignace was the first col and was a gentle intro to what was to come at "only" 3.5 miles long. Gradients gentle and I was far from the slowest. Osquich a bit more testing and found it quite tough. Going to be learning how to climb better !!

Just to let you know that you are nothing special these young guys were giving us some lip at the top of the Ignace !!

The 100 mile distance of the first day was very testing and felt quite tired with aching legs, so was a little apprehensive about my recovery as we had 2 major Cols to climb the following day. Also had an issue after the coffee stops when I experience cramping on the inside of my thighs for the first mile or so. After that all was OK but this separated me from the bunch and I had to work to catch up - into a headwind. There are some really quick guys here.

Lunch stop - mine is the white Specialized

Chris

The day of departure has arrived

Been putting the final touches to the training with a full on anerobic session and a circuit.

Just before doing the circuit Gary put me on his "Body SCan analysis machine" Stand on this in bare feet and hold onto handles and it sings a wee song whilst passing some sort of current through you which does a full fat, muscle weight analysis of each part of your torso.

The results showed how the training programme had affected my physical makeup. We set out to achieve 3 goals in the 6 month programme:

• Reduce overall weight (less to lug up hills - all the best climbers are light).
• Increase Leg strength
• Improve core stability (Thats your 6 pack to us vain humans)
• Reduce fat content
• Improve lung capacity
• Raise aerbic threshold - the point when you start to run out of oxygen in the muscles)
• Improve anearobic tolerance

The results from the body analysis showed that we achieved all these goals.

• Overall weight down 2.6 kg to 74.5kg
• Leg strength up to over 100
• Core stability better (not tested by machine - done by working out on core board and hemi ball
• Fat down to lowest its ever been at 13.5kg
• Lung capacity up
• Aerobic threshold now over 150 bpm
• Able to run heart rates of 175 - 180 for 30 mins now so anerobic tolerance improved

Had a bit of physio an a slight hamstring strain which is all OK now. Went for a nice massage yesterday and packed rucksack and bike.

Will do as many blogs as i can during ride with some photos. taking a heart rate monitor which should be interesting - probably scare me !! Also I have a video head cam so will put together a short video after the event and post it on u tube.

Chris