Posting #3 (Biarritz to Montory) August 11 (108kms, 1800m of climb)

Day #1 for riding and we awake early to a light drizzle. Where has all the good weather gone? We gather a 7am to fill water bottles and prepare bikes before 7:30 breakfast at the hotel. The rain fades away, and we are assured by the locals that it will be ok! We head down to the beach for the obligatory group photos - a final look at the Atlantic ocean and we head out at 8:20am. Getting out of Biarritz in rush hour takes some navigating and patience (and some map checking from time to time), but we finally make it out and into the countryside to the east of the city in 40 mins. We ride through rolling hills with not much in the way of elevation change and almost immediately experience the first of what will be three flat tires for the group during the day - in aggregate costing us about 45 mins of time.

We soon hit classic French countryside, but we are constantly reminded we are in Basque country with lots of signs reminding us of the fact - and also because all traffic signs are in both French and Basque. At about 10:30 we roll into the regional town of St Jean Pied-de-Port. It is VERY Basque and there is a huge line of traffic rolling into the town centre. It turns out it is market day and also there is to be a bullfight in the evening - a big deal for the Basques. We thread our way through the traffic - the French drivers are incredibly respectful of cyclists, wait patiently for a good place to overtake - and never shout or use the horn - other than to give encouragement. What a change from Australia! (and the US).

After a cafe-au-lait in front of an old hotel, we head out of town, to meet what will be our first big challenge - the ascent of the 1055m Col d'Aphanize. This proves to be an excellent introduction to what we have ahead of us for the next week or so. The sun comes out and the temperature rises as we start the climb into the incredibly green mountains along a very thin ribbon of bitumen/asphalt. The climb gets right down to business, with two very steep (20%) but short pitches, then a steady 12% climb for the first couple of kms. The scenery is magnificent, with large, grassy and rocky peaks (dotted with sheep and cattle) surrounded by deep, forested gorges. The rivers are beautiful and look to be full of trout! After about 4kms of climbing we stop for a rest and pics and then head upward for the final, and most challenging part of the climb which caps out with another 500m 20% grade! Phew! There were a few moments I wished I had a 27 cog, but I managed just fine with my 25 and was glad I had put in all those kms over the past month. I felt really strong for the climb, and my heart-rate remained in a comfortable range. We stopped at the top of the col for a few minutes to wait for stragglers, then headed off on the wonderful, 10km descent from 1055m to 249m elevation. We descended through beautiful cool lush hardwood forest with ferns and babbling brooks.

The ladies have been taking a separate route to our lunch rendevouz at Tardets-Sorholus and though we are behind schedule due to our (now) three flat tires, we are able to SMS them our progress and they assure us they will be at a restaurant in the town-centre when we arrive. After completing the long (and fantastic) descent from the col, we ride the last few kms through absolutely beautiful farming country with fields of flowering corn and grass and small villages all quiet and shut-up for siesta. We finally roll into the town square of Tardets to a standing ovation from the ladies (who are well into their 2nd bottle of wine by now) and some bemused locals. They have begged the restaurant to stay open through siesta as it is now 2:40pm, and we are soon munching on baguettes with cheese and sausage, washed down by COLD Stella-Artois beers, and finished off by a big slice of Gâteaux Basque - a divine concoction of almond paste, sugar, flour and creme-brulee! (We'll be having more of that before we leave Basque country!!)

We are all thrilled to have survived our first test of the ride and agree that it has ben an excellent introduction to what lies ahead of us. We will be unlikely to see much more 20%, but it was good to know we could do it if we had to. After lunch we rode a short 5kms to Montory and our Hotel L'Auberge de l'Etable for the evening. It is a small village and this is the only hotel, so we are eating in tonight! I have also discovered a free wi-fi access point, so have been able to assemble this posting which I didn't expect to be able to do.

Tomorrow is a big day with 4 (four!) cols - including the infamous Col de Marie Blanque (nasty Cat 1) and Col d'Aubisque (Cat Hors)!

Allez!

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Posting #2 (Paris to Biarritz) August 9 & 10

After breakfast in a cafe opposite the Pompidou Centre the taxi
arrived promptly at 10am to take us to Parnasse Station for the 5 hour
train ride to Biarritz. It took some creative loading to fit 2 bikes,
four suitcases and four passengers into the small minivan, but somehow
it was accomplished. The French TGV train is impressive and after
leaving the urban sprawl of Paris we silently sped (210 kph)through
the rolling French countryside, passing through places with familiar
names such as Poitiers and Bordeaux. We pulled into the Biarritz
station on schedule at 5:20 pm and were met by one of the other
members of "The Cluster" who had arrived earlier. No amount of
creative loading could get all our luggage into his Fiat minivan, so
we left Noel at the station with some of the bags while we drive to
the nearby airport to pickup our Hertz rental - a Ford Galaxy minivan.
It is to be the vehicle that Lorraine will drive for the next 10 days
and is diesel (of course) with a manual, 6 speed transmission
(interesting). It is new and spacious and seems to drive very well
back to the hotel - after remembering to collect Noel back at the
station with the rest of the luggage.

Biarritz proves to be something of a revelation. It is perched on the
Atlantic coast just north of the border with Spain and is in the
Basque (and Bordeaux) region of France. It is a significant holiday
resort and has a downtown area simply buzzing with hotels,
restaurants, bars, and people.

It seems quite classy - perhaps just a
notch or two below the Riviera.There are winding small streets through
the CBD down to the shoreline which is generally rocky, but with a
rather fine looking beach. There is even a half-respectable surf
rolling in, and some of the others have already tried it and thought
it ok (?). We meet the rest of The Cluster and after assembling the
bike (it seems to have survived again) we all head out to dinner at
7:30. The town is FULL of people, there is live music in the square,
and a fireworks display at 11pm - when it was dark enough!! Our hotel
room (Hotel Le President) overlooks one of the main squares and the
partying rages on until the street sweepers move in at 6am. There is
definitely a 'schoolies' week whiff to it!

It was good to meet the others and their wives/partners - but not to
hear the various horror stories of lost/delayed bags and damaged
(hopefully not too badly) bikes. Sunday morning we meet in the parking
lot and assemble the bikes.

Only a few minor issues that are quickly
cleared up and most of the group head to the beach. We are all quite
impressed with Biarritz - its tidiness, quaintness and the quality of
the ocean water and beach. The beach doesn't get crowded until about
noon - probably due to the late night partying so most of the group
take a dip. Biarritz is really the surfing capital of Europe, and
there are quite a few surfers out catching a fairly clean 1.5 shore
break.

Tonight we meet for general briefing and plan to hit the road (not
literally) at 8 am tomorrow (Monday)

Allez!

Posting #1 - Paris

Well we made it to Paris from Boston as scheduled and arrived safely (at the apartment where Noel & Heather had been staying for the past few days) at around 10am Friday. American Airlines again transported the bike safely - this time for a charge of US$90. They had charged me US$100 to bring it from San Francisco to Boston a few weeks ago - go figure. It was a 7 hour flight from Boston, but the Boeing 767 was not full, and we managed to sleep for about 4 hours in reasonably comfortable circumstances. Charles de Gaulle airport was surprisingly efficient, and we were in the taxi-van (euro 60) and en-route to the city within an hour of landing.

The small apartment is in the heart of the action in Paris and is a very short walk from the Pompidou Centre and the River Seine. With four people, luggage, and two bikes, there's hardly room to turn. We spent most of the afternoon exploring the back streets around Mont Martre and reacquainted ourselves with some familiar sights - while trying to stay awake.

Today (Sat 9th) we head to Montparnasse Station to catch the train for the 5 hour ride to Biarritz!

Bob

The Lead Up

Having been at our house in New Hampshire for the past month, Lorraine and I will be flying to Paris from Boston on August 7th and meet Noel and Heather Fitzpatrick there. We travel to Biarritz from Paris by train on August 9th to meet the rest of The Cluster. I've trained hard for the past 6 months, and have been very fortunate to have had this last month to ride the mountain roads and passes of New Hampshire to prepare me for what lies ahead.

My Garmin Edge 305 computer (see sample below) tells me I have ridden over 1700kms in that time - in mostly ideal New England summer weather. I've climbed, and climbed, and climbed (and lost a couple of kilos in the process) and feel comfortable that the setup of my Cannondale System Six (compact crank and 12-25 cassette) will do the trick. I hope I don't regret not having the 27 cog halfway up Tourmalet! It was good to get away from winter in Brisbane with it's 5am training rides around Mt Cootha in the cold and dark.

Will plan to post something when we get to Paris on Friday 8th



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