The Trip!

Day 1: Hendaye to Arudy, 185km

A long and tiring day

Leave Hendaye at 8am and the clock starts ticking, 100 hours to complete the challenge. The first day had been billed as a relatively straightforward day but it turned out to be a really really long day in the saddle. Knowing the challenges of the next few days I was hoping to conserve energy today but the route was a real energy sapper, up and down all day long with an underlying upward drift. Bagged the first Col of the trip, the rather pathetic Col de Saint Ignace, a mere 169m altitude, the highest one bagged today being Col D'Osouich at 507m. Intentionally taking it slower than I would on a single day ride of the same distance was the right strategy but meant the day just dragged on and on, 10 hours of grueling up and down left me pretty wiped by the end of the day, not helped by the last two hours being in torrential rain and on a real bone-shaker of a surface.

Favourite moment of the day was this "Garage Moderne" that I passed...

I thought there would be loads of other cyclists on the course but there were hardly any - it transpires that in the 54 years the event has been run that only 5,500 people have done it. The day I left two others also left, Steve and Graham, nice guys who were planning on doing it in 4 days rather than 4.5 days, we cycled much of day one and two together.

Arrived into Arudy very tired with snow capped mountains in the background warning of the real work that was yet to be done.


Day 2: Arudy to St Marie De Campan, 110km / 130km

Tourmalet? Non!

Very weary this morning, way more tired than I was hoping to be and already wondering whether this trip was doable. Not helped last night by a painful right leg keeping me awake until 4am so 3 hours sleep last night. After yesterdays rain today was perfect weather for climbing - cool with clear blue skies. A shorter day distance-wise but two major climbs - the Aubisque and the Tourmalet, both famous "out of category" Tour climbs. Out the door and into the Pyrenees proper now, with snow capped mountains all around. It's difficult not to feel inspired when you are grinding your way up a famous Col with Tour graffiti all over the road and just amazing scenery all around.

Up the Aubisque - a 16km climb at between 7 and 10%, the first real climb of the trip, 2 hours of grinding up the mountain in the lowest gear, topping out at 1,709m (or a mile high, in proper english).

Most of the major Cols are so high that they had only been finally cleared of snow a few days beforehand (June 6th was the official opening date for most of them, there was still loads of snow by the roadside) and alas when they cleared the Tourmalet of snow they found that part of the road had been smashed by a landslide. We were told that it was impassable by car and passable but dangerous by bike. Steve and Graham both decided to give it a go and if I was in their position I would have done the same - they've never been touring before and the Tourmalet is one of *the* climbs to do. Myself however I went over it last year in the Etape and felt that safety rather than glory would be preferable and found a route around it, courtesy of a dual carriageway into Lourdes from which I was escorted off (apparently this dual carriageway is treated as a motorway, I had indeed pretended not to see the "bikes prohibited" notice...) and then cutting across country on some lovely quiet roads before ending up in Bagneres, 20 km north of my intended destination. Alas I had been on this last 20km in the Etape last year and I knew it was 20km pretty much continually uphill, a long long drag to finish the day off. Steve & Graham did make it over the top but had to carry their bikes for quite a way and said it was pretty dicey in places. It's a shame that I didn't get to go over it again but that's easy to say in hindsight - at the time it felt the right decision. The route was meant to have been 110km with circa 3,000m of climbing, I did 130km with I reckon around 2,200m of climb.

Went past this mildly humorous village name en route:


Day 3: St Marie de Campan to Massat: 175km.

Matter over Mind

Woke up early and the mind was raring to go, said mind sprung out of bed at 5.30am. The legs however were shot and wanted a lie in. The mind even went downstairs to see if the bike was where I left it but the legs were grateful to find that the guest house owner had locked it away. The legs thus won the battle and went back to bed. Got going finally at 7.15am with a lively mind and unlively legs which liked me even less when 500m from the start we start a long and pretty hard climb up the Aspin - a 8km climb at a 5%, then the top 5km at around 8%. Then down the other side and then up a 8km climb at 4 to 5% back up the Peyresourde, topping out at 1,563m - a good "power climb" in a much higher gear than normal given the lower gradient.

This is one of my favourite photos from the trip - the early morning cloud bending over the top of the snow capped mountain.

Over another couple of Cols and then the final one was Col de Portet - a short climb, only 4km or so, but now in the heat of the day and a bit of a beast of a section in the middle, topping out at 17%. I will admit that the 4km climb was done with 5 pit stops to cool down and get the heart rate down to normal again, it was by far the toughest climb of the trip. Even on the 30km decent into Massat it was now so hot that I was stopping every 5km or so to cool down, over the course of the day I think I drunk 12 litres of water in total, as soon as it went in it just got sweated out again. The final 30km was along a river valley in the shade and as always happens to me when I get into the shade I cool down a bit and can start motoring a bit more - this was a lovely "second wind" head down blast along the valley, all the way home.

Day three was definitely my favourite day of the trip, hardly any traffic on the roads, a few really nice climbs and a blast along the valley.

One thing that has been *very* noticeable on this trip is just how totally empty all the guest houses and restaurants are - all the brits and americans are staying at home this year. The guest house in Massat had 30 rooms of which I was the only guest. It's dinner room had seats for 100 and there were just 6 people dining - this has been the same every night at every stop - everywhere is just totally empty. Massat typifies a Pyrenean village - it's a village of circa 500 people but normally has such a large tourist population that it supports a mini-mart, butcher, baker (no candlestick maker), organic shop, garage, tourist info centre etc etc - how they will get through the next 12 months or so and the effect it will have on villages such as this one really wonders.

Very tired now and pretty sunburnt. Saddle sores galore, stiff shoulders, stiff wrists, a blister on my right hand and an almost complete lack of sensation below the waistline. If it wasn't for such a nice route today I think I'd be thinking of packing it in now, the fatigue is just too much.

Day 4: Massat to Prades, 180km

A big long grind

I'm glad tomorrow is the last day, it's been an epic trip and one I've been training for for 9 months now pretty solidly. It has however also been a pretty major grind at times with big long days in the saddle just to do the distance, without any downtime to stop or relax - it's been get up, get on the bike, ride hard all day, get in, dinner, bed.

Today was billed as a bit of a grind and sure enough it was. Setting off at 6am to avoid the heat of the day up a major climb ahead. Directly out of the guesthouse and into the first climb of the day, a lovely 12km climb at 4 to 5% into the thick mountain mist, wolves howling in the surrounding forests up to the Col de Port and back down the other side where the fun of the day promptly ended. Onto a pretty major main road for 20km alongside trucks and cars making their way over to Andorra then starting a really long tiring 30km uphill slog, still mixing it with traffic. None of the climb was hard but it was just really really long - the vertical climb was over a mile - from circa 300m up to 1915m to the top of Col de Puymorens.

Once the traffic turned off into Andorra the last 4km were magical, empty roads and snow capped mountains all around again. Then a fast 30km decent down the other side and back up again to Mont Louis, the last major climb of the trip. Again a nasty climb in traffic, major roadworks etc. The problem with the Raid is that is was designed in 1955 when I'm sure it was a lovely route with minimal traffic - alas this is no longer the case. At one point on Mont Loius a huge double decker cattle truck came past me, initially blasting me with the heatwave coming off the engine as it ground up the mountain - and then cooling me down with a green ammonia smelling spray than I don't think came from the screenwash...

Atop of Mont Louis you are almost 2km up and it's pretty much downhill all the from there for the 130km to the coast. In many ways I was sad to be leaving Mont Louis as that was the last of the major climbs and I do love climbing but my body was degrading badly and telling me it was time to stop this adventure.

A nice 40km downhill cruise (alas still mixing it with the traffic all the way) into Prades and firmly into Catalan country. It seems that whilst the devil may wear Prades in France, they definitely wear Prada in Catalan.




Cracking photo I took of myself in the evening, I was fatigued beyond comprehension by this stage.

Day 5: Prade to Cerbere: 98km

Cutting it close...

Needed to be in Cerbere by 12:00 to hit the 100 hour deadline. Set off 7.30am - 100km in 4.5 hours mainly downhill - really easy. Really easy until I got lost, ended up in a marina, then a holiday village and added 10km to my route. ARGHH. Once I eventually got myself onto the right road and did a timecheck I was about 15 minutes behind schedule (based on my average cruising speed) so it was time for a head down blast along the coast road, checking the distance and time remaining every few minutes to see what I needed to do speedwise to make the cut. I was out of water, I didn't have time to put on any sun lotion - just bang the pedals round for 90 minutes getting burnt and dehydrated. I thought my arrival into Cerbere would be quiet and unnoticed but it was so so nice that Steve & Graham had hung around - they arrived last night and did it in 4 days (quite awesome) so it was high fives all the way down Cerbere high street and straight into a bar for some beers.

So that's it, it's all over, 750km in 99 hours and 52 minutes (how tight was that, 8 minutes under the 100 hour limit!) including circa climbing around 1.2 Everests in terms of vertical ascent - I had a number of highpoints (most of day three, climbing the Aubiqusque & Aspin, the finish and day 6 below) and lots of low points (most of day 1 and 4, too many busy roads, too too tired all the time). It's a major major challenge, one I would recommend to any keen cyclist but if I were to do it again I'd tweak the route somewhat and avoid the traffic and the grind.

Day 6. Cerbere.

Evil.

So I thought that was it, end of my trip, but I had a nice little extra story to share. So there I was having a leisurely breakfast at 9am in Cerbere the morning after when 4 cyclists in Raid kit arrive at the end of their Raid. Morning boys, say I - how on earth did you get here by 9am? (from above, it's around a 4 to 5 hour ride the final morning) and a funny little story emerges - they did the Raid with a group of 18, many of whom are best described as "the shaven legged brigade" - enforced pelotons, alpha male racing up the hills etc - these four were always the last in at night and many of the rest of the group were sneering a little at their pace "3 hours up XYZ Col, wow, we did it in 1.5 hours etc etc". So, on the final morning the four set their alarms for 4.30am and got up and left the hotel in total silence, including vaulting a 5 foot locked steel exit gate in their lycras. Hence they get into Cerbere for 9am - when the first of the shaved boys comes flying down the road at 11am they all stand up, beers in hand, cheer and clap them home with a welcome of "AWESOME, WELL DONE, FIFTH PLACE, YOU MUST BE SO PROUD". Pure evil but a very very funny way of getting their own back, I liked their style immensely. As evidence of just how much fun we had sitting by the med in the morning sunshine waiting for the pack to arrive, here is our table (me plus the four) at 9.50am, two rounds down and the third on the go:



So that's it for another year. Next year I think I'm going to have a more relaxing trip, messing about in the Alps for a few days doing some of the major climbs I've not yet done but I do have something particularly evil in the back of my mind that I'm thinking about for 2011 - it involves a 1,300km non stop bike ride (literally non-stop - no sleep till you finish) from Paris to Brest (the very western tip of Brittany) and back again that has to be completed in 90 hours. It's known in the trade as "The big one". We will see...