The Tour Participants

We had a great time in France for many reasons, one being the people that we met on the tour. In no particular order....George and Cathy Howcraft from Brisbane, both injured while training, and both did a little riding while on the tour.  Super fun to be with.

Michael Kluger and Sophie Ricketts from Melbourne, both doctors and super riders.  Sophie was queen of the mountains.  Michael rode a sweet pinarello dogma with dura-ace Di2.  I spent many hours chasing these two guys up the hills.

Stuart Hastings and Michelle Harris from Melbourne, both doctors and super riders.  Stuart was a very strong rider and king of the mountains.  Michelle is in the middle below, and Stuart on the left below.

Chris Taylor from Brisbane.  Fast on the flats and downhills.  This is Chris after the long and steep climb up Port de Bales.

Michael and Karen Tiedje from Alberta, Canada.  Both strong riders.  Mike (aka Captain Canada) is an excellent climber for his size.

Kim Sinclair and Kirsten Shouler from Auckland, NZ.  Super fun to be with.  Kim rode a sweet Colnago C50.  Kirsten won the "Joan of Arc" award for her biking advocacy work in Auckland, and for putting up with Kim.

John and Sue Graham from Newcastle, NSW.  John is very strong climber (passed me a few times) and Sue won the "tough mudder" award for being so darn determined to climb the steepest of mountains.

Stuart McDonnell and Mandy Hargreaves from Alice Springs.  Stuart and Mandy were avid supporters of the Aussie pro riders on le Tour and the Orica Greenedge cycling team.

Michael Hanna from Melbourne (via Ireland).  A strong rider with a good sense of humor.  Michael was with me when I got blown across the road on Mt. Ventoux.  Lot's of fun to be with.

Mark Nugent from north Queensland (a small town south of Cairns).  This was Mark's first trip out of Australia.  He is a musician and new to cycling.

Alan Serborne from Perth.  A super fun guy to tour with, won the "most improved in french" award for his suave style of ordering desserts.

Glenn and Jenny Matthews from the Blue Mountains area near Sydney.  Glenn is a super good athlete, he has finished the iron man triathlon, for example.   Jenny is a sports management teacher.  Both are good riders and lots of fun.

Joining us late in the tour were Troy Howard from Brisbane, Ian Cooper from Darwin, and Justin Hennessey and Kelly Campbell from Brisbane.

And of course the Pike's.  I was awarded the "mostly likely to get lost award" for a wrong turn at the top of Col du Soulor (thanks to Cathy, Mark & Linda for getting me back on track).  Linda was awarded the "top supporter" of the tour for her support to the riders and never-ending enthusiasm and encouragement.

Bikestyle Tours

A shout-out to Bikestyle tours.  Bikestyle is a Brisbane-based touring company that offers cycling tours in places like Australia (Tour Down Under), Europe (TdF, Giro, Vuelta), and USA (Tour of CA).  It's a fun and organized way to see the professional tours in person and ride the courses with other avid cyclists.

Leading our tour group was Peter Forbes, tour leader from Brisbane.  In addition to being a good tour leader, Peter is also a strong rider.

Lorain Graham, tour support from Brisbane, a former pro rider and great rider and climber.

Spencer Kearney bike mechanic from Brisbane, and also a strong rider.

Pat Jonker from Adelaide is a former pro rider who has many cycling accomplishments, including a win at the Tour Down Under and several finishes at the TdF.  Pat was a real pleasure to ride and tour with, had great stories to tell, a good sense of humor, and offered timely encouragement and support as we slogged up the mountains.

Jan and Marc managed the tour van and bus, respectively.  Super nice guys, experienced and professional, and a real pleasure to be with on the tour.

Also on tour at the beginning was Bruno and his wife Els.  Bruno and Els managed the tour van and provided great support to the tour riders.

Paris and the finish of the le Tour

We arrived in Paris on Saturday 7/26 in time to catch, on TV, the end of TdF stage 20 (time trial).  Our Bikestyle tour group went to dinner together for the last time in the evening, where we relived memories of the trip and handed out a few awards.  More on the other tour participants in a future post.

On Sunday 7/27 we got up early and rode the streets of Paris, visiting a few sights, including the Champs Elysees, prior to the final stage of the TdF.

A beautiful day weather-wise, very little traffic, and lot's of cyclists on the streets.  Many of the streets in Paris are cobblestone so we got to experience what that feels like.  Paris has many dedicated bike lanes and paths, making it one of the more bike-friendly places I've been to.

We had a chance to say thanks and farewell to the Bikestyle tour folks.  Here's a nice pic of them in Paris.  More on them in a later post.

Later in the day we had a nice spot on the Champs Elysees, about 200m from the finish-line, to view a professional women's race in the early pm followed by the finish of the TdF.

Again, quite a spectacle, 100's of thousands of spectators, large caravan of vendors, tour officials, team & support vehicles, police, medical, etc.

A nice way to spend a day in Paris.  Tomorrow, back to the good 'ole USA.

Col du Tormalet - saved for next time

Those of you watching on TV know that wet weather in France has been a common feature of this year's TdF.  We, however, have been very lucky with the weather - 9 straight days of good weather (except for the top of Mt. Ventoux)....until today (Friday 7/25).  Today was supposed to be our turn to conquer the historic Col du Tormalet, but unfortunately rain and high winds at the summit kept us off the mountain.  A reason to come back again.  We did ride along the bike path from Lourdes to the village of Gorge de Luz which is at the base of Tormalet.  A nice town, and a good place to stay the next time I visit the area.

I'll be back someday to conquer this beast, hidden in the clouds on this day.

Oh my Lourde / The Climb up Col du Soulor & Col d'Aubisque

After climbing Port de Bales we made our way to Lourdes, France, where we stayed for three nights.  Lourdes is nestled at the base of the Pyrenees mountains, close to several popular climbs featured in the TdF.  Quite a place is Lourdes.  It is one of the main pilgrimage sites for Christians.  Apparently someone saw an image of Mary in the 1800's and since then Christians from all over the world (6 million per yr) come here to see the place and, I guess, hope for a miracle.  Literally thousands of people, many in various states of ill-health, roaming the streets during the day mostly shopping for religious paraphernalia in 100's of souvenir shops.  There are hotels everywhere, apparently one of the largest concentrations of hotels on the planet.  In the evening, at sunset, people make a short pilgrimage (short walk) to the cave (grotto) where the Mary-sighting took place and get blessed or something like that.  Quite a spectacle.

On Thursday 7/24 we rode from Lourdes along a bike path to the small village of Argeles-Gazost.  Nice little town since two historic TdF climbs start from there -- Hautacam (featured in this year's TdF) and the HC climb to the Col's of Soulor & Aubisque.  The climb to Soulor & Aubisque features absolutely stunning scenery and a difficult climb.  It's about 30km to the top, 1250m up, with an average gradient of 4% with a few flats and many long steeps in the 8-10% range.  The road winds through several small villages and farms.  Livestock roam the hills and crowd the road.  One of the major hazards during the descent is livestock.  This guy. standing in the middle of the road at the Soulor summit, wouldn't budge an inch as cyclists rode by.

Sheep everywhere.  Reminds me of New Zealand.

The road between Soulor and Aubisque is a rim-road that wraps around the mountain.

Happy campers at the summit of Aubisque.

After the fast and technically difficult descent down the mountain to Argeles-Gazost, we caught up with the TdF riders (stage 18) just before the final climb up Hautacam.  This was a key stage/win for V. Nibali, the yellow jersey winner of this year's TdF.  For me, an opportunity to chill on grassy knoll.

The climb up Port de Bales in the Pyrenees

On Wed 7/23 we conquered another epic climb - Port de Bales.  Port de Bales is a HC climb (Hors Categorie - the toughest climb category in the TdF) and it was tackled by the TdF riders the day before in stage 16.  The Pyrenees mountains in France are spectacular - majestic mountains, beautiful scenery,  park or country (farm to market) type roads, very little traffic, lots of small villages and farms, trees, etc.  Reminds me of the green mountains of Vermont but with steeper/higher mountains & longer climbs.

The ride up Port de Bales started in the village of Saint Bertand-de-Comminges at the base of the Pyrenees.  Saint Bertand is a beautiful walled medieval village located on a hill top.  From there a short ride to the base of Port de Bales - 1755m at the summit, 19km ascent, average gradient of about 6.5%, and several long sections with greater than 10% grades.  This was one of my favorite climbs to date because 1) the scenery is so spectacular, 2) quiet park-like roads with little traffic, and 3) one steep mother of a climb...and long.

Once at the top we descended down to Col de Peyresourde to see the TdF riders pass by (stage 17), and then continued on down to Bagneres de Luchon where we met the bus.  About a 50km ride in total.

The climb up Mount Ventoux

What an absolute epic climb.  This is one of the handful of mountain climbs that serious cyclists want to conquer, and believe me, it is worth it.  The Tour de France has featured this climb a number of times since the 1950's (but not this year).  Of note is the memorial to British cyclist Tom Simpson located about 1km from the summit.  Simpson died in 1967 while climbing Ventoux during a stage at the TdF. 

We started our ride in the small village of Malaucene in Provence for a short 10km warm-up ride over to the base of Mt. Ventoux near the village of Bedoin.  The weather at the base of the mountain was perfect - sunshine, 60's, a little wind.  The summit at 1910m was immersed in clouds.  The climb from Bedoin to the summit is about 1620m over 22km with an average gradient of 7.5%.  There are several long sections in excess of 10%.  There is no relief on the way up - just climbing.  Scenery is spectacular -- the lower part of the mountain reminds me of park roads through Ebbetts (CA) or Smugglers (VT).  The top part of the mountain is above the tree-line and has a famous "moon-scape" appearance that you see on TV.  The fastest ascent to the summit from Bedoin is about 56 min by Iban Mayo in a 2004 time trial.  For amateur cyclists, anything in the 2hr range is considered good.  For me, the ascent went smoothly until the last 5km, just past a place named Chalet Reynard.  The weather at the top of the mountain was extreme -- 50 mph wind gust, fog, and rain mist. Feel-like temps (wind chill, etc.) were probably in the 30's.  The wind gusts were so strong and persistent that many cyclists got blown off their bikes, including me.  In an instant I was blown from one side of the road to the other by a nasty wind gust...but no worries, I was able to unclip, brace myself (& bike), re-group, get back on the saddle (no easy feat), and fight the wind to the summit.  While at the summit I heard horror stories of other cyclists not doing as well - several were literally blown off the road.  Anyway, the Biksesyle tour guys arranged for van transport down to Chalet Reynard, followed by a careful descent down the mountain to Bedoin (for lunch) and then back to Malaucene. What an experience. 

On Tuesday (7/22) we had a more relaxed experience by riding about 40km along the Canal du Midi.  The canal was built in the 17th century as a short-cut for boats navigating between the Atlantic ocean and Mediterranean sea.  Next to the canal is tree-lined a bike path that meanders through scenic farmland (see pic below re: sunflower field).

It was a flat ride, and a chance for the flat-landers among the group to show-off a little.  In other words, we hammered that bad-boy all the way to Toulouse where we spent the night. Out in front initially was tour-guide Peter F., followed by Brisbane-based Chris T. who really put the hammer down.  I followed Chris for a decent pull, and then along came Melbourne-based Sophie R. who definitely took it up an notch.  We passed a local rider somewhere near the end, and of course he couldn't let us go by w/o a spirited challenge, so next thing we know he is out in front leading us through the last part of the ride to a stopping point just outside Toulouse.

A shout-out to Glenn M. who hung in there with the front group of riders, and to George H. who had been off the bike for several months due to injury, but choose this ride to test his legs, and did great.

A great day on the bike.