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Cycling forum Raid Pyrénéen trip 2012
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Ah, good to be back in front of the telly.
Irish breakfast.........oh sorry, still on the protein recovery drinks. It was a Rough Ride by all accounts. The heat, flies, ever rolled over 5 dead snakes on the road in the mountains. Butterflies all over the place which was very pleasant.
First day took me, door to door: 10hrs 45mins. Hot and long.
Day 2: 8hrs. 55mins.
Col D'Abisque starts after a mile or so. Unrelenting first climb, straight up, 17k or so, shaded but then opened up. Decent through the valley and up the Tourmalet, 18k. odd around midday. You've seen it on TV (but do you want to go out and do it
) Big permanent "circus" going on at the top it seems with hikers and all sorts hanging out. All these places will fleece ya for a Coke ..........and what are ya going to do about it 
?? That was an 8hr. 55 min. day. Had to stop LOADS of times on the way up the Tourmalet. It was too tough. Myself and Astra Monti were hitting about 83kph. on the way down. It was good fun. One of the better descents of the trip. We completed the Raid together. He was good company. It worked.
Day 3: 12hrs. 57mins door to door. This one we had to crack off asap. But breakfast was holding us up most days so the kind owner laid our breakfast out for us during the night. It was up in the dark eat as fast as and throw a withered leg over the auld bike. Breakfasts were the same mostly but adequate if you ate ate ate and then sat down and had some breakfast.
200k and alot of ups and downs. Most of it a blur really. Dead snakes butterflies and nice flies. Into Tarascon and a nice outdoor pavement cafe meal. Accomodation seems to be improving every day from tip standard to fairly decent.
Day 4: 10hrs. 20mins. 130k. Thunderstorm along the way just got the cusp of it. Not too bad really but sheltered from about 10mins. of torrential. Dried up. Stopping at roadside taps when we could find them, troughs anything with water. Obviously stopping at shops every day to fill up. On the way up the Tourmalet we were dousing ourselves from fast flowing gulley water coming down the gutters at about 30 mph. roadside. Just splashing faces and wetting heads/caps etc.
This day was and always will be very memorable for the 25k. descent down into Prades. Ripper!!!!!!
I did the whole trip without Sunglasses and copped a few flies to say the least. Nay gloves either.
:D
Decent meal in a hotel and my first couple of glasses of wine. Banging down multi vitamin tablets and whey powder whenever I got the chance but the whole bag / luggage / hotel / kit business was tricky. The two lads who accompanied us were special and very good to us and I must thank them no end, but the day to day routine for the cyclists was hard as you can imagine, getting in after a long day, in my case washing gear getting ready for the next day asap. Feeding yourself, sleeping or trying to. Farting contests. All had to be done daily.
Day 5:
90k. got in around 12'ish, noon. Feck that. It's over. Champagne, thanks lads. Photos. Me arse had fallen off at this stage.
We found a great harbourside cafe. Had seafood paella twice that day. And a few beers. It was lovely.
73kg. Sunday 22nd. July.
71kg. Sunday 29th July.
It seems that only 6000 odd have done this since it's inauguration in '52. 300 per year or something. These figures were thrown out yesterday and are most likely innaccurate and I plan to look it up, but it seems more hardcore that I thought.
http://www.ccb-cyclo.fr/wa_files/Raid_historique_les_20d_C3_A9buts_20du_20Raid.pdf
http://www.ccb-cyclo.fr/raid_pyreneen.html
This is a good one;
http://www.kandevsys.com/raid2012/history-of-the-raid.html
From:
http://www.randonneurs.bc.ca/
"Slow Beginning for a Big Ride - Originally the dream of Cyclo Club Béarnais leading light, Maurice Bugard, in 1912, a definitive route for Raid Pyrénéen and a successful attempt on it had to wait until 1950. In June that year Paul Mathis left Cerbère with companion Mademoiselle Betbeder, to ride to Hendaye and establish a maximum time to challenge other randonneurs. That time was set at 100 hours for a 710 km route over 18 passes. Later, a version touriste more suitable for unsupported riders, was developed." Lonely Planet: Cycling France, page 412
This tourist version of the raid summits 28 passes (i.e. 10 more than the randonneur version, including the Col du Tourmalet [2115 m], and is a little longer [827 km]). It must be ridden over ten consecutive days. Both the touriste and randonneur versions of the ride can be ridden in either direction. After PBP, Raid Pyrénéen is the most popular and prestigious cycle-touring event in France. It is organized by Cyclo Club Béarnais, Pau.
It's all his fault;
"Five Go Down To The Sea"
Prep.
Hoping to get this in the near future......
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I am not sure if I can write it all down, all the trip is still a blur, very long hours on the saddle and sleepless nights make the days look like one.
Day 0
We arrived at the hotel around 4-5 and got our rooms. Got out to the van and started getting our bikes together, tested them in the car park where I fell over going about 3kms/h, I forgot to tighten my stem (damn you Lumen). Headed over to have a dodgy pizza and got back for sleep.
Day 1
Breakfast on the hotel, got our bikes, start rolling towards the coast. Beautiful spot, stopped for a couple of pics not having a clue what was ahead of us. Most of us were waiting a flat "easy" day. We managed to stay together until the first control town and then we splitted up until the end. It was a bloody shock to the system, 200kms mainly going up to a drag that was never ending, we didn't get back to the hostel until 7pm or something. Idleater decided to go over the steepest climb of the day (Marie Blanque), the rest of us where already dead and took the other way. Sh!tty food and terror about if we could make Wednesday without running out of day light..
Day 2
More sh!tty food on that hostel and virtually no sleep, 5 lads in a 3x3 room wasn't really working. We started up very early, Col D'Abisque was in front of us. We finished it while it was still not very hot. Beautiful descent down on the valley, almost flying down. Col Du Tourmalet was next but the heat was on. Literally. No shade anywhere and 34C. The altitude didn't work with me. Felt light headed and dizzy. We had to stop like 23 billion times, I was overheating like an old car. Made to the top, had pics, flew down to another hostel. This was nicer, the guy was nicer, the food was nicer, the rooms were nicer, we got some sleep.
Day 3
Very early breakfast, started very well. We were on the 140k mark very fast, almost without any major issues or delays. We got over a horrible climb, 12-14% for like 4k, couldn't even stop, powered the last 200m. Went down and after a while a fecking bee stung me. Right on the fecking head. Splitting headache and pain. Got to a pharmacy, got some sh!te, messed up my stomach like there was no tomorrow. Pleasant surprise up the road, we stopped for a bit of shade, and a dutch couple that had a cycling hostel make us feel very welcome and let us rest in their yard. Told us that we are bloody idiots that we are doing that in the middle of the July, it's just too hot. We agreed. We reached last climb of the day, horrible. No energy in me, my headache was gone, but my stomach was in bits, had to throw up. Had a steak and headed to sleep.
Day 4
Bad sleep, my mind couldn't get any rest. Woke up, had a shower, had two slices of bread with butter, stomach still in bits. We went very slowly on our way. Up a big mountain. Died 7 times, I was running on empty for hours. Stopped lots of times, tried to throw up, couldn't. Reached eventually almost the top, a cold can of coke was waiting for me and a burger. Heaven. Only managed to eat half the burger, the body was denying the food. We went on, amazing descent, lots of hairpins, I was in bits. Thought of getting into the van, feck that, it's thursday, we re almost there. Descending on the hoods, not having proper control, my body and my mind was somewhere else. Made it safely at the bottom, tried to eat and couldn't. Cold water was the only thing working for me, was constantly dipping my head in water. Another huge climb in front of us, I was about to die, tried to throw up again but had nothing in me. The climb had amazing scenery and then an amazing thunderstom appeared. I suddenly felt alive when the buckets of hail were coming on us. Stopped in top, threw up at last. 45k descend to the hotel. A nice room. A nice bed. A nice pool, I went in with my bib shorts, I felt refreshed. Rok On helped put my bike on the hook, I was too weak to lift it. Horrible stuff, I was panting while I was walking. Worst day of my life on the bike, 130kms on an empty stomach with virtually no sleep. Had a nice meal, trip was almost over. Thanks to PlanetX, Coastwatch, RokOn and manafana for helping me getting through the day, no way I would have gone on without you guys. They stuck with me while myself was somewhere else, epic stuff.
Day 5.
The smell of success and the smell of the coast. Still too weak to push, but wanted to get over with this. Put the hammer down on the flat and we reached the coast very shortly. A little bit later we were taking photos on the last control. We did it, amazing. It was over. Everyone was safe and sound, everyone was having a giggle. First pints have already been consumed. Great lunch, great dinner, great laughs, what a week.
The whole trip was amazing, the views were amazing, the company was great, the whole near death experience was amazing. Lost 4kgs, some muscle some fat. We mainly went over the whole thing together with PlanetX, as he said, good company and it worked, but we spent most of the time along with Rok On, Idleater, Coastwatch and manafana. I can not thank enough the guys from the van, they did whatever possible to keep us happy, water in the middle of nowhere, amazing burgers, bananas and their kind words of support was all you need to get you through the day. I feel they enjoyed this as much as we did.
Can't thank you all enough for this trip, once in a lifetime experience no doubt. Sorry for the telegraph like post, these are only snaps of the days, too much feeling to put down on writing. Many thanks to Captain and Lenny for organizing a lot of this. Also I think all of us together we managed to gather a fair amount of money for the charities which I think it's a great thing as well.
I think with Lenny we already found the next challenge 0 -
day 1. left hendaye beach at 9 am, rooling hills, one 500 metre col, nice steady pace, rolled in to the hostel about 8.30 ish. felt fine. I didnt get to do the Marie Blanque, and thats one of my regrets on the trip.
day 2. Aubisque and tourmalet. cracking scenery, steady as she goes, cracking long climbs, push on on the cracking descents.
day 3. Couple of cols, 200 +km day, and the col de aspet, nearly 5k at 9.6 %. nice and steady. We also passed the wee col that will be forever remembered for having tacks thrown in the road (cant remember the name).
day 4. 130 kms with a big long hill in the hot heat. Plodded on with a few of the guys, but we were averaging something like 7.5 kmph, so after a discussion we decided that one guy woud hop in the van, two other guys went on, and i hung back with Peter to wait for the van. We were about 60 k away from the hotel, and after pacing myself all week i was looking forward to pushing on a bit. I reset the garmin, filled my bottles and away i went. this was the best spin of the trip so far. i caught the two lads who had gone on, and ploughed on to be met with a descent that went on for about 30 km. heaven. Pushing on on the descent, i suddenly noticed the camper in the distance. caught and passed them a few miles down the road. couple of minutes later i heard that pssssssshhhhhhhhhh sound, realised i had a puncture, off the bike, wheel out, grab the attention of the van by waving the wheel in the air, change wheel, back on the road. deadly. rolled into the last town before the van, really ready for the friday. bring it on!
day 5. no more pacing. 90 k with 2 cols, a headwind and lumpy roads. set off with a couple of lads and lost my water bottle when sprinting to set off a speed warning sign, so turn around to go pick it up, then chase back on to the lads. couple of miles later idleater came up to the group, and we pushed on. best spin of the week, we worked well together, him pacing me up hills, me pacing him down, and sharing the work on the flat. we aimed to do the 90k in 3 hours, but with getting lost, stopping for a few minutes for pictures and that headwind, it took about 3.30. At 11.30 we rolled in to cerbre together, after the best spin of the trip. 11.32, we were sat in a bar at the med with a beer. heaven.
All in all a thoroughly enjoyable trip. The 2 big back to back days i did in early june really stood to me. I knew what it was like to be in the bike for consecutive 12 hour days. I knew i could get on with myself, when spending long hours in the saddle. I learned how to pace myself, what and when to eat, and drink, and rest. Would I do it again? Maybe, doing cerbere to hendaye (east to west), but id probably opt for the 10 day one that does the 28 cols. Would I recomend it? Most definatly, but make sure you prepare adeqauately.
Many thanks to all of the guys for the company, the laughs, and all the other memorable moments that I have ironically forgotten Special thanks to captain havoc for all his hard effort in organising everything, and thanks to idleater for a cracking wee spin in on the friday. nice to open her up on that run in chef! And also thanks to the lads in the van, who are still in the atlantic somewhere. Their trip will only finish tomorrow!!
@astra - That next challenge will be awesome!! 0 -
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