Pyrenees - Renting some high end spec

oops, just been a bit lame sam. must. try. harder.

will sort soon

sorry for taking yonks but for anyone still interested some pics and few words.

all fucking gravy in the pyrenees.

spent the first couple of days on all day hikes and then on the third took a rest day and went rafting. it gave the legs a rest but due to a shortage of water was a good few hours of rowing.
cancelled the high end spec booked prior to travelling when we realised there was a semi-decent bike hire place in our local town - Argeles Gazost.

me and the missus got ourselves a couple of quite ordinary but perfectly serviceable Cannondales - CAD4.

anyway, we took a ride up three Cols on the wednesday. the Col de Borderes, Col de Soulor and the Col D'Aubisque. the smaller Col de Borderes literally started at our campsite so could not be avoided. though small it has varyingly been classed as a Cat 3 and a Cat 1 in the Tour.
I understand that the category given to a climb can very dependent on where it is tackled in the stage. So I am taking it as a Cat 3 on the way out (where it was a piece of piss) and Cat 1 on the way back (certainly a lot harder after the hilly miles in the legs at that point).

Dropping off it into Arrens it was straight up the Soulor and then on to the Aubisque. To be honest the Soulor was the main climb because coming at the Aubisque from this side meant most of the hard work is done there.

(got to the top of the Aubisque only to realise Flickwg had got there before us)

The road between the Soulor and on to the Aubisque was without doubt the most spectacular of the riding done. Castellated walls, a couple of tunnels, amazingly clear sunny day for glorious views. Needless to say, the pictures don't do it justice.

Next day I went off solo to tackle the col du Tourmalet. Pretty much parked up about 30k from the summit and jumped on the wheels. It was just climb, climb, climb, but never anything steep.

You get a sign every kilometre telling you your altitude and the average gradient for the next kilometre. I think with the 12k to go sign had an average of 10.5% and I started thinking shit that is getting a little steep a bit early. But the average never went over that and in fact hovered around 9%.

You just sit on your bike and turn the pedals, and watch the sweat and rain just drip on to your top tube. Was grateful to have a granny ring on the bike. Didn't resort to it the day before but the Tourmalet is relentless and I was happy to have the extra gear.

With 10k to go the storm began. Riding through clouds. Dodging cows on the road. You could hear their bells long before you could see the whites of their dopey eyes through the mist. Clear for the last 4k from La Mongie to the top, and managed to pick off a couple of others doing the climb in that last drag. Windy as fuck at the top, fork lightning, a whole load of angry natural stuff - the stuff that permits you to use the word, epic.

aand was grateful to sink a quick coffee, get the warm warmers and gilet on and get ready for the descent. Stuck her in the big ring and let rip - fucking awesome, despite practically zero vis for about 5k of it.

Definitely want to get back there or the Alps and spend a week riding, rather than just a couple of days.

all fucking gravy

looks amazing!

Nice report jonny, sounds like you had a great time :-)

Epic stuff jonny. I especially liked this;

"You just sit on your bike and turn the pedals, and watch the sweat and rain just drip on to your top tube."

nice report.
i wouldn't mention the granny ring though :-)
a compact double and 27t is far more noble.

ya didn't do it fixed than Jonny?

chapeau Gentleman J, looks like a great adventure

to be honest i was pretty much fixed in to the granny ring for the last 8k or so on the Tourmalet. not too ashamed to admit it.

cheers for the comments guys.

Nice on Jonny, this looks wicked. You could write stuff for Rapha labels with your prose (in a good way!).

good report jonny, looks like the 5 hills stood you in good stead, maybe a group outing to the mountains might be in order for those who like to sweat and toil as they pedal uphill...

...You just sit on your bike and turn the pedals, and watch the sweat and rain just drip...

in my case, add tears and blood to those above

good ride report, sir. nice one

nice one jonny... looks like the weather stayed kind no bases or arm warmmies then.
what was the choice of tipple out there... at a guess it was the red stuff rather than the black. I couldnt do it myself...g safe. ;)

Looks like a great trip, Jonny... shudder Those climbs are making my knees ache just thinking about them! ;)

Nice! I haven't ridden enough recently...

Great stuff Jonny. And well done Hester! Epic stuff.

LFGSS trip to the Alps?

1. Jonny
   
2. Sam
   

shins, had to go ten days without the G - can you believe it! but yeah, plenty of the red stuff. and the white stuff. and the inbetween stuff.

cornelius - the surrey hills are tougher dude - serious. they are just so much shorter thankfully.

cheers mouse, i did my bit for Rapha when i pulled on my gilet. a bunch of german riders at the top of the Tourmalet were v. impressed. certainly didn't need extra layers or arm warmers on the climb. i got to say i love the sound of the parachute silk flapping a little on the descent.

Great stuff Jonny. And well done Hester! Epic stuff.

LFGSS trip to the Alps?

1. Jonny
   
2. Sam
   
   

would be an awesome trip.

WOW amazing pics and great account Johnny

Nice one; sounds like a blast. Makes me get itchy feet for some of those long descents again..

there's nothing like riding up a mountain.... and then down :)

great report, really makes me want to do that next spring/summer.

Nice work jonny.. looks like I will have to climb some of these bastards one day.. :)

hippy, you would have no problems out there, in fact you would do it with some elan...

looks wicked, J.

vell done

Right, I'm dredging up this thread because I'm planning something similar.

I'm looking for somewhere to stay where two of us will be sufficiently pampered and fed but without any organised rides.

We want to tackle some of the bigger cols and we are reasonably fit but have little experience with the pyrenees.

Some of the previous mentioned places like pyractif and also velopyrenees bot look good. Anyone got any experience with either? Are the locations both alright?

We want to get there by train and Pyractif looks reasonably easy with a change at Tolouse which gets you within spitting distance.

Any reccomendations greatly appreciated.

Tim

@IdealStandard - I'm planning something too, probably with a clash with the Tour de France stage 12-14. And then obviously some of the famous climbs. Looked at Velopyrenees - they offer to collect you at the nearby train station.