raid pyrenean * 2

lennymc

so a couple of years ago a gang of us did the raid Pyreneen. its a 720 odd km cycle from the Atlantic coast to the Med coast through the french Pyrenees taking in 18 of the cols including many of the famous mountain climbs from the tour. It was fun.

A couple of us (me and idleater) were shooting the breeze, and the raid came up. We both agreed that we should definately do it again, but this time with a twist.

The twist is that we start at the Med, head to the Atlantic, then bugger off back to the med. The official raid can be done in either direction, once its completed in 100 hours from start to finish. This raid would do the raid in BOTH directions. We would be looking at doing 1450 kms, with 28000 metres of climbing in 7 days. Just over 200 kms per day. As for support, last time we had a camper. This time its unsupported, just to make it that little bit more fun.

Anyone interested in this funfest? Fly down to the med, do a bit of cycling and sightseeing then fly home after a pint or two.

Jawgap

Dates?

Idleater

Subscribed...

lennymc

Jawgap wrote: »

Dates?

no idea, but probably when its hottest. July/August or so next year maybe. After the tour.

Idleater

lennymc wrote: »

probably when its hottest.

Jebus no. I saw 38.8 in the shade, 45 climbing when I was there in July. We were lucky last time!

AstraMonti

Haha, not a chance, good luck with it lads.

Planet X

B & B?

lennymc

Idleater wrote: »

Jebus no. I saw 38.8 in the shade, 45 climbing when I was there in July. We were lucky last time!

September?

lennymc

Planet X wrote: »

B & B?

nothing pre booked. prepare nothing. bring a credit card.

Planet X

The Chefs Paella!!!
Jaysus!!!!

lennymc

pace yourself!

Planet X

'er indoors says,
"Go for it".

wanderer 22

Not far off 5 Evil 200s in a row..jaysus, good luck!

el tel

How many meters of descending?

Inquitus

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QdY4gfR7iY

mahoo

i thought 'never again' was the usual reaction to doing the raid pyrenean .. it must be getting easier :pac:

AstraMonti

mahoo wrote: »

i thought 'never again' was the usual reaction to doing the raid pyrenean .. it must be getting easier :pac:

It's an amazing route and it's a "must-do". But never again in the middle of July with 40C. N E V E R.

Inquitus

So @200km and @4000m a day for 7 days. How long do ye take to do that each day?

AstraMonti

Our longest day was day 3 with 200kms and almost 4.000m of climbing, took us 10h moving, 13 in total.

(Bonus info: Max Temperature: 40,0 °C)

Inquitus

AstraMonti wrote: »

Our longest day was day 3 with 200kms and almost 4.000m of climbing, took us 10h moving, 13 in total.

(Bonus info: Max Temperature: 40,0 °C)

I spose the decent roads and the long descents means you probably make up much more time going downhill than you would on a Wicklow expedition of similar proportions.

AstraMonti

Definitely, the quality of the road makes the whole thing much more enjoyable. You can pretty much go with 70-80kms/h for kms at a time.

ROK ON

If I could vet this to dovetail with a family holiday in asth France then I might be up for reverse of days 3&4 the last time. They were my favourite in terms of route, oh and the food/wine got better as we travelled east.

lennymc

i think the only thing that would be the same as last time would be half the 2nd half of the route. we would be doing twice the distance in less than twice the time. effectively doing the spin from last year, and then doing it again, but in 2.5 days. I would imagine some of the downhill days would want to be up near 250 - 300 km in order to do the full 1450 in the 7 days.

Squidgy Black

To do the Raid in the first place is a pretty mental thing to do.

To do it twice back to back? You deserve to be put in a mental home lenny.

Inquitus

Why not 100 hours one way, day or so of rest, 100 hours the other? You get the raid legit both ways with slightly less of the sadism Lenny?

AstraMonti

Have you asked their wives? lol

lennymc

Inquitus wrote: »

Why not 100 hours one way, day or so of rest, 100 hours the other? You get the raid legit both ways with slightly less of sadism Lenny?

that would be nearly two weeks. it was bad enough spending 6 days with a gang of men i met on the internet. An alternative would be to do the full raid in a long weekend. Fly out friday evening, and home on Monday. extreme raiding if you like

I think personally the 100 hours was handy enough, it was a tough cycle, but personally i was never under pressure. long days, but not really pushing on too much - i paced myself - (except for the last day which was fun). knocking a day off each leg would make it more challenging. Just my sadistic tuppence

It would be very good training aswell.

Inquitus

lennymc wrote: »

that would be nearly two weeks. it was bad enough spending 6 days with a gang of men i met on the internet. An alternative would be to do the full raid in a long weekend. Fly out friday evening, and home on Monday. extreme raiding if you like

I think personally the 100 hours was handy enough, it was a tough cycle, but personally i was never under pressure. long days, but not really pushing on too much - i paced myself - (except for the last day which was fun). knocking a day off each leg would make it more challenging. Just my sadistic tuppence

It would be very good training aswell.

Extreme raiding sounds interesting, long weekend, minimal time off work, and salable to the missus, no doubts would be very tough mind, little rest or recovery. Logistically you can fly in or out of Perpignan and San Sebastian I guess?

Idleater

Inquitus wrote: »

Extreme raiding sounds interesting, long weekend, minimal time off work, ...

As a plan B, this is also good. Doing this on the tour bike with panniers and lights might be possible.

Planet X

I didn't read it right it seems. I thought it was 5 days over & 5 days back. You want to do the out & back in a week. :P

What I'm tentatively planning is flying into Perp., going Med. to Atlantic and then taking the Velodessy up the coast to Roscoff.

Self supported / camping.

Mellon

I followed you’re Raid Pyrenean thread two years ago and it got my interests up and I ended up doing it last year...was a spectacular cycle. I'm also looking for something challenging next summer, how about Raid Dolomites? I'd join a group doing that. You get the 9 days of cycling and it covers some of the best climbs in Europe


http://www.marmot-tours.co.uk/Road-Cycling-Holidays/raid-dolomites.html

lennymc

whatever about getting away for 7 days, there is no way on earth i would get away for 9 days. The dolomite is on my list of silly cycling things to do tho

Captain Havoc

I might give the raid a miss next year, been there done that have the jersey (thanks to the guys). There's a large insane part of me that realises PBP is the year after next and getting in a few audaxes would be my priority next year (words and actions are different things, I realise).

That sounds like some challenge, the legs'd be bet after the first time. I think there are pluses and minuses to doing it earlier or later, we had the heat, which I was grand with except on the Palheres where I thought I was going to collapse until I found that fountain at the side of the road. I'd also be concerned about unsupported and trying to do it quicker and twice, it would cost you a little bit more to pay a friend's ferry, food and accommodation to bring the bikes over.

I really wish I could go on this but I'll probably be needing holidays to go to herself's homeland and I'll probably visit the relations in Yorkshire in July.

coastwatch

I'm not sure about a Raid "out and back". I dont think there'd be much time for essential beers en route and the hardest part would probably be getting out of the deckchairs on the beach in Cerbere to head back.

If it's more sufferin you're after, then there's Route Des Cols, same start and end towns, but longer and more Cols than the Raid, and crosses into Spain a few times,

Route Des Cols - 940km, 34 Cols,16690m climbing
Raid Pyrenees - 720km, 18 Cols,11000m climbing.

Cant find any trip reports, but I met a few guys who did it unsupported a few years ago, tough but great apparently. I think I'd be up for it, preferably supported or with luggage transfer though.

lennymc

whatever i do next year it will definitely be unsupported, probably be unplanned, and most definitely be unorganised, but will have to be tough. for the craic like. Me, bike, credit card and not much else.

Ole Rodrigo

If I had a Van Nicholas Yukon with a decent saddle bag and triple gearing, I'd do it

Planet X

Fly into Carcassonne, cycle to Biarritz via a few hills and up the Coast to Roscoff.
1500k+

http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/fullscreen/306491031/