Cycling forum Raid Pyrénéen trip 2012

Super Freak

In northern France today myself....... 29 deg from lunch time to supper time (approx) and not one cloud in the sky :cool:

I'd say the lads were scorched down in the Pyrenees.

Captain Havoc

We did 200kmntoday, it was more difficult tan we anticipated. 10 little boardsies went over to France, one over heated and then there were nine. Nine little boardsies continued up the road, one's legs were fooked and then there was eight. Aubisque and Tourmalet tomorrow.

Hermy

What happens the little Boardsies when they burn out?
Is there a broom wagon to sweep them up?
Will the breakfast buffet be enough to recharge them?

lennymc

The tourmlet is my new favourite climb. Hardest 100k spin ive done to date with the aubisque, tgesolour and the tourmalet today. Lovin' it.

granda

well done lads hope all made it up and down:D

Idleater

Idleater wrote: »

AstraMonti wrote: »

We were saying that with Idleater.. we need to pick a climb and go all out. I am still ignorant of where we are going to stay, do we have any mountain finishes?

Day 2 and day 4.
...
The tourmalet is just like the Sally gap. Any one who says otherwise keep it to your good self and leave me in my ignorance. I'm perfectly adept at failing miserably and continuing regardless :-D

Fail on my part . Got the aubisque fine but mechanical, mind and temperature got me on the tourmalet .

DeadMan1

I hope you all survived day three ... sounds epic

gearoidkerry

Please caption let us no how yea are all getting on,it does sound epic all right.hope all is good for yea:)

lennymc

All back safe and sound, I did 12 hours cycling, not including stops today, 202 km, perysoud, aspen, col de port, are the ones I think I remember. Over 500 kms, and 10000 metres climbed so far in about 30 hours cycling. My average is about 16 kph. Short day tomorrow,120 k and only one big climb (over 2000 metres!0

Idleater

gearoidkerry wrote: »

Please caption let us no how yea are all getting on,it does sound epic all right.hope all is good for yea:)

Today was tough 202km in 12 hours door to door including stops :-P Went strongly to 120km and then backed off a lot as the temperature soared. Obviously not what Ireland wants to hear but it was 37.5 degrees and our merry group of 4 had 80km and Col du port after 185km to climb.
One thing amongst so many is how overjoyed one can become to see the sign that says 9,5% sur 1km.
So far this has been nothing but stunning. I can't get over how beautiful the scenery is. Velopeloton's pictures don't capture it enough.

gearoidkerry

Hole cow that is hot,well done to yea all and glad to here all ok

Idleater

did a voekler / rolland today on a 130km solo break. Paying for it now as i've to wait for the team car.
Going up the port de palheres listening to the waterfall / brook babbling along for 5km was the highlight du jour.
To aclimatise for coming home i got rained on. I reckon i could count the drops on hands and toes.

lennymc

90 k left, flat out attack from the start, from prades to cerbre tomorrow. On the rivet!!

manafana

Idleater wrote: »

Fail on my part . Got the aubisque fine but mechanical, mind and temperature got me on the tourmalet .

proud to say i beat you up the tourmalet

padjo5

lennymc wrote: »

90 k left, flat out attack from the start, from prades to cerbre tomorrow. On the rivet!!

Give her holly boss! We stayed in Prades last week, grand spot for pizza! Enjoy tomorrow.

Captain Havoc

I've been the slowest of the group by far, last night involved a little bit of descending in the dark. Every day has been challenging for different reasons. Day one was underestimated, everyone arrived in later than anticipated and a few people, including myself were worried, it was 200km long and instead of being flatish, it was very up and down with a head wind. Day two, Aubisque and Tourmalet, the Tourmalet is encreadibly hard but to do it after the Aubisque is made it phenominally hard, 100km done but about 2,000 meters of climbing. Day three, caused a few raised eyebrows not only by members of the group but also by someone who knows the raid very well, 200km with around 3,000 meters of climbing. Probably my favourite of the days as I was prepared for it and there were no mega climbs. The Col du Portet de Aspet is a leg breaker with 4.4km at an average of 9.7pc, I had to dismount a couple of times. The last of the five climbs we did that day wasn't particularly steep but by the time we arrived at the summit darkness was falling and eventually half way down the sun was gone. As the week goes on the legs are getting progressively more tired, today was short at 130km but the 2001 meter above sea level, Port de Pailheres was a difficult way to start the day, further on in the day a couple of us were very worried about the low average speed, those fears were brushed aside though with a 40km descent into Prades where we are now staying.
The weather over here is fantastic, on occassion getting too hot. We did get got caught in a minor thunder storm earlier. One major reason eight of us hopefully will complete the raid tomorrow is our support crew, I don't think they could be any more helpful, food along the way, refills of water in the middle of nowhere and always a phone call away. The scenery down here is magical and I don't care how many awesome photos velopeloton puts up, none can do the place justice, it is that stunning. It's really good to be doing this as a group of cyclists, it's good to have the familiarity in the evening and the experience to talk to, plus they're a great bunch. Our accomodation has also been good, last night the hotel where we stayed was owned by someone I worked with in Birmingham, which I didn't know until we met this morning, small world. Food over here is good too, on the second day, food was staying good for me but other than that, it's been good. Yesterday I had a three course meal for €11 and it was grand. Cycling the raid has a real tour de France feel to it, the familiar mountains, the names painted on the road, you can almost hear Phil Liggot saying your name. I now know what it's like to climb the Tourmalet, I know how it feels to climb the Tourmalet, I know how it feels to climb the Tourmalet wrecked but I'll never know what it's like to race up it. The raid seems unknown to the local cyclist, many we've spoken to, when we tell them what we're doing for the day though they think we're nuts. There is a lot of respect in this area for cyclists, leaving plenty of room passing, a lot of waving and even a bit of cheering on.
Overall a very good experience, I hope to be in Cerbere at 13h00 so I can say I did it. My legs are getting progressively slower as the days go by so the 90km might be a bit tight. I'm sure we'll have photos up soon enough.

le petit braquet

Sounds like that decision to fit a triple was a wise one:D Magnifique! You guys are living the dream that most of us here have, and as someone who struggles up much smaller climbs (if they are even worthy to be called that in comparison to those legendary cols), I salute your collective guts and determination. Treat it as a quick spin around Wickla and finish the f---er now!

manafana

all home safe and sound, trip done , beers and seafood now.

strava has me at 730km for week 11,990metres of climbs thin il leave the bike alone for a week or two.

colm_gti

Well done lads, respect!

g0g

manafana wrote: »

all home safe and sound, trip done , beers and seafood now.

strava has me at 730km for week 11,990metres of climbs thin il leave the bike alone for a week or two.

Yeah well done to all, it really must have been some adventure!

le petit braquet

Great news, well done all (including support crew) and I bet beers never tasted colder or better!

ROK ON

On train.
Had lovely lunch with lads after drinking champagne with support crew on a beach in the med. Class lads who did a lot to get is through.

Climbs are tough, but they are very very do able. The heat & length was toughest part. 32-37 degrees for first three days. Cycling through an inferno.

14 bottles plus numerous refreshment breaks on day 2 alone.

Three of us had heat stroke on three separate days.

Thanks to Capt for organising and the support crew for encouragement and cheeseburgers :-)

Thanks to everyone that dragged my ass up a climb.

Anyone can do the Raid as long as you pace yourself and have good support.

Now that it's done, never again.

lennymc

manafana wrote: »

all home safe and sound, trip done.

Well done. Only an hour and 2 beers behind us :-)

Cracking spin chef.

Captain Havoc

Pace yourself, chef.

lennymc

Steady now

Idleater

lennymc wrote: »

Steady now

¹²% sur 1km

AstraMonti

Good spin, Sally gap, wicklow gap and a bit of Shay Elliot, good craic, weather hold up alright too.

manafana

mmm my doping speculation was deleted.

alpes next time?

Inquitus

Respect lads, well done. Chapeau!

Captain Havoc

Be the hokey, my eyes won't stay open. That took everything out of me.