Perfect Pyrenees

It was wonderful to get on an airplane and head to France for a week of cycling. Of course wearing a mask for 2 hours at SFO, 2 hours boarding and waiting at the gate and taxiing, 10 hours in the air, 6 hours at Charles De Gaul in Paris, and 2 hours flying to Toulouse and waiting for luggage was a little less than wonderful. That is a total of 22 hours masked up. The only time the masks came off was during meals or cocktails. That is a lot of CO2 rebreathing.

I was in France for 44|5’s Pyrenees Tour. I did this ride back in 2017, and thought it was such a wonderful cycling trip that I wanted to come back to do it again. On the first trip I surprised myself by actually riding pretty well. But before this reprise trip I had severe doubts about my cycling shape.

Ever since the first Covid lockdown I have felt like my cycling strength has severely deteriorated. I haven’t been riding as much or as hard or doing as much climbing. Stoker and I stopped riding hills, since the main reason we do that is to get prepared to ride together in Malaucene, which didn’t happen for two years in a row.

Maybe it is age (I’m on Medicare now!), maybe it is lack of motivation, but I wasn’t at all sure I was ready for the Tourmalet (9.5 miles, climbing 3900 feet, 7.8% average grade) or Hautacam (8 miles, 3400 feet, 8.0%). or some of the other big climbs in store. After a warm up day on Saturday, we had six days of major climbing planned. The total for the week was 330 miles and a whopping 42,000 feet of climbing.

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I did most of those miles, and I actually rode a lot better than I expected. Consider that back in 2017 I climbed the aforementioned Tourmalet in 1:52:37. This year I did it in 1:53:03! Now that is consistency. Mediocre consistency of course. In 2017 Hautacam took me 1:28:12 to reach the summit, and this year I managed 1:33:10.

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The only climbs I had to sag were the ‘Col d’ Hotel’ up to Larrau and the road from the Col du Soudet up to the Col de Pierre de San Martin. I got a flat at the base of the Col d’ Hotel and couldn’t figure out how to work the through axle, so I had to call for help and by the time the van arrived I decided that 72 miles and 8200 feet was enough for the day, so I skipped the final 3 km climb of 750 feet. The next day when I got onto the open upper slopes of the Col du Soudet, the wind was howling and I didn’t want to do the final stretch up to the San Martin and possibly get blown off the road either going up or down. So I missed about 1,500 feet of the climbing and ended up with 310 miles and 39,800 feet for the trip. This is by far the biggest week of cycling for me since August 2019.

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The final day’s ride from Larrau to St. Jean de Luz was a big one, starting with the very difficult Col de Bagargui. The Col started almost as soon as we left the hotel. The first 3.3 miles average a reasonable 7.0%, but then things get serious: the next 3.1 miles average a whopping 12.8%! That is an extraordinarily difficult climb when I’m fresh, which on the 7th straight day of riding I certainly was not. But I made it up without walking. Thanks to Strava I know that back in 2017 I did the Col in 1:19:55, and this year it only took 1:20:38, less than one minute slower. More mediocre consistency.

So my first European cycling trip since 2019 was a success. I have been saying for years that as you get older it is better to take one challenging cycling tour too many than one too few. Since the Pyrenees went well I will be back for more in 2022. The plan is to spend a month in Malaucene with at least a little tandem riding, followed by a week in the Cevennes and thence to Belgium for pave and cobbled climbs and beer. I don’t know if Covid will allow this but if my legs behave like they did last week, I’ll be ready for it. Koppenberg, here I come!