Tag: Tour de France

St Savin

St Savin is a small village located just 23 kilometres from Argeles-Gazost at an elevation of about 580 metres. This was a lovely quiet ride through the local countryside and we even checked out a 15th century church before it was visited by a group of travelling pilgrims.

 

Lourdes

In the afternoon, Rob, Frank, Geoff and I decided to ride to Lourdes along the bitumen rail trail. Lourdes is a really interesting place. It is the largest Catholic pilgrimage destination in France and one of the most popular Catholic shrines in the world.  The small town of only 17,000 inhabitants receives more than 5 million pilgrims and tourists each year thanks to visions of the Virgin Mary reported by a young girl named Bernadette in 1858. The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes incorporates 52 hectares of property and 22 places of worship, including a sacred grotto, two basilicas, and a variety of buildings for pilgrims and the sick. They have two services a day and we arrived after the morning service had ended.

This was to be a light day to allow us to freshen for the Col du Tourmalet on Friday.

Again we headed up the valley but this time turned of at Pierrefitte-Nestalas, where a few of us grabbed a coffee. French coffee, by the way is pretty poor. They have no idea of how to make a good cappuccino or latte.

Then it was a climb up to Cauterets where we hopped on the cable car and chairlift and then walked about a kilometre to the lake. The views were just spectacular.  No video for this one but I hope the photos give you an idea of the beauty of this place. It’s a very popular spot for walkers in the summer and skiers in the winter. All up we rode 51 klms, climbed 1,300 meters elevation and were in the saddle for 2 hrs 35 mins (1 hr 50 up and 45 mins back downhill).

After the Col d’Aubisque on our first day, we did a slightly gentler ride to the ski and holiday town of Gavarnie. Our course took us along the cycle path from Argeles-Gazost, up the valley alongside the river, through the little town of Luz-St-Sauveur and finally up the climb to Gavarnie. About 80 Klms in 3 and a half hours riding with an accent of around 1,2000 meters.  I hope the photos and video capture a little of the beauty of this area.

 

 

Our first day’s ride was up to the Col d’Aubisque, one of the Tour de France classic mountain climbs that will feature later in this year’s Tour. As an opening ride of approximately 60 klms, it wasn’t too long – about 3 hours up and 45 minutes back. The scenery was just magnificent and I kept stopping to take photos. Andrew, our leader, assured me there would be plenty more to come so I got the message that I needed to keep riding. Some of the video is a little shakey, but I hope it gives you an idea of what we experienced. The ride includes the smaller Col de Solour (1,225 meters) and the Col d’Aubisque (1,709 meters) and the scenery between the two cols was incredible. Click on the video links below.

 

 

Learning the Language

To prepare me to converse with the locals as best I could, I attended a Conversational French Speaking Class at Bribie U3A (University of the 3rd Age). Click on the link below to meet my teacher and fellow class members.

My Bike

I’ve had my bike for nearly 4 years now but some changes were needed for the trip. Click on the link for an explanation.

My Secret Weapon

Weight is the climbing bike-rider’s curse and with that in mind, I decided with 10 weeks to go to embark on a weight loss program. Click the link to see if it worked.

Training on Mt Mee

Although I ride my bike regularly, the trip to France presented new challenges. I would be riding up some of the classic climbs of the Tour de France and would need to build my climbing strength to cope with these. But Bribie Island is as flat as a pancake, so I had to look further afield. Mt Mee, about 50 klms from home seemed the solution, so with 10 weeks to go, I began to climb it multiple times twice a week. My wife Merryl, scared that I’d crash on the descent or be run over by a crazy motor-bike rider, waited at the bottom for me in the car for a couple of hours. That’s devotion for you!!

If you’d like to see me riding up and down Mt Mee, click on the links below.

Descent