Cracking Week for Bike Commuting!

Wow, what a great week for bicycle commuting in the Bay Area! The weather has been absolutely ridiculous -- no fog, no wind, no nothing other than pure California sunshine. I could get used to this. Actually, I will have to, since the 10-day forecast shows nothing but "more of the same" :-)

Heading home...

Steve and I are at Heathrow waiting to board our flight for SFO. We scored window/aisle exit row seats, so all is well. We last saw Will in Toulouse looking very stressed as he was being shaken down by the Gendarmes and wondering whose idea it was to get him to the airport only 30 minutes before his flight :-)



Last night/this morning was a blur. The "BNO" for sure. Les Freres Dixon and Robert were last seen climbing onto a bus with a shoddy destination in mind. They have not been heard from since. Here's hoping they get back ok. Of course we forgot our hotel key and I ended up crashing in the street for awhile until St. Tom miraculously appeared at the doorway to let us in. Crazy night. I'll post some more photos when I get back home.

The Nice Dinner

With the epic ride behind us, thoughts naturally turned to food (and wine), and lots of it. Paul and Nathalie took us up to a great restaurant on a vineyard outside of town with excellent views out to the Pyrenees. We had excellent sauteed foie gras, Filets of Boeuf, etc. etc. etc. The wine was copiously distributed and everyone was well lubricated by the end of the meal. The smart thing to do was to head home, but of course we all went back to "the square" for more libations. This didn't last as everyone seemed to lose steam and we headed in pretty early.

Tomorrow is our wind down day with a light "coffee stop ride" and packing for the trip home. We'll miss this place.

Random idiocy and amphibians at dinner:

The Epic Day

Today we rode a fantastic loop covering about 80 miles and three major climbs -- including the Col de Pailheres, a Tour de France hors categorie climb. We started in Quillan, a short drive south from Limoux. Quillan is set in a beautiful valley with limestone cliffs towering above the town. Everyone knew it was going to be a special day when Matt pulled out his new matching tires. C'est Pornographique!


To start the ride, we followed the Aude River south towards Axat, then branched onto one of its tributaries through a series of steep and narrow gorges. The climbing began as we left the gorge and became steeper and steeper as we ascended past the ruins of an ancient chateau to the hamlet of Roquefort-de-Sault. From there we had a brief respite and enjoyed a small amount of flat riding into a beautiful valley. It quickly dawned on us, however, that we had to climb out of the valley over the towering ridge to the west. As it turned out, this wasn't as difficult as it looked, and soon we crested the Col du Garabel. From this vantage point, we could see straight across the steep valley to Mijanes, the Pailheres pass and the high Pyrenees. Those who climb must also descend, so the result was a rocket ride back down to the Aude River at Escouloubre-les-Bains.

After a fast spin down the river, we turned up towards Mijanes and met Nathalie for a quick water and photo stop. A bit of relentless climbing ensued, as we rode from a low point of 800m at the river to over 2000m at the summit of the Pailheres -- nearly a 4,000' climb. Despite the mashing of pedals and shortness of breath, there was not a single complaint. Everyone was all smiles as we cruised higher and higher and eventually owned the Col. After taking around 6,000 photos, we dined on sandwiches, fruit, chocolate and waffles schlepped up to the top of the pass by our own super Nathalie. The weather gods were smiling on us, for the climb was perfectly cool and actually pleasant at the top of this often stormy pass. Paul led off the descent by going from zero-to-hundred in about 9 seconds off the backside of the Pailheres. Several of us started down but did not have the stones to follow at that speed.

As Matt rode down he passed a smiling and obviously-very-pleased-with-himself Martin and said, "Dear brother, I have a question for you".

"Yes?", replied a still smiling Martin.

"Where is your helmet?"

"Oh for f*ck's sake!" (as he turns his bike around and slogs back up to the col to retrieve his lid)

We descended seemingly forever towards Ax-les-Thermes (home of TP), then halted at the turnoff towards our third and last major climb of the day, the Col du Choila. Steve flatted on the way down the Pailheres and was about 15 minutes back. As he rode up with a half flat tire, he earned the "Dismount of the Day" award by failing to unclip and stacked his bike right onto the tarmac.

The climb up the Col de Choila was very nice, with a light breeze blowing and fog hanging in the trees above. Very reminiscent of our home in Northern California. At the top, the fog turned to mist and eventually rain as we embarked on a nearly 20 mile descent across the Plateau-de-Sault and down into Quillan. The last several miles into Quillan were in particular some of the most incredible descending roads I've ever had the pleasure to ride.

Everyone felt fantastic at the end of this very tough ride. So naturally we consumed several malt-based beverages in the Quillan town square while basking in the glory of this epic day. Martin and I found a great souvenir of the ride in a small shop on the square. A little statuette of a bicyclist climbing up a col. Because they had only one, we had to rock-paper-scissors for it and Martin won. He then informed me he also had no money, so I had to fund my own loss. Yet another crushing defeat.

Map and elevation profile of today's ride and some photos:

Paceline through the gorges.





Matt climbing towards Roquefort de Sault

Jerome on the climb.

Peter on the climb.

Col de Jau is left, but we head right towards the Garavel.

Paul at Roquefort de Sault. This is his job. Do not feel sorry for him.

Through the valley towards the Garavel.

Martin can hold a conversation with anyone at anytime. Here I believe Martin is asking this poor man if he thinks he resembles a young Daniel Craig.

Descending the Garavel. High Pyrenees loom ahead.

Beginning the big climb.

Incredible switchbacks and road surface all the way to the top. Simply the best climb ever.

This is Tom. He is smiling not only because this is a great day, but also because he is going to Chamonix on vacation next week. Actually, Tom smiles all the time and was a terrific presence on the trip.

Matt near the top.

Peter coming up.

Looking back down the serpentine roadway.

Conquistadores del Col.

Steve with Dismount of the Day #1.

Nathalie delivers with a fantastic lunch and smile.

Paul discusses the proper way to descend the Pailheres at 60mph.

The team (and the White Princess!).

Pete on the descent to Ax-les-Thermes.

Next up, the Col du Choila.

Finished in Quillan.

Recovery Day

After several days of hard riding in the heat (and a lot of travel before that), today was a recovery day. Most of us slept in (relatively speaking), and then a smaller group went out on a shorter flattish spin to St. Hilaire. Due to a map error, there was a bit more climbing than we wanted. Matt had a puncture and tire failure after just a few miles in Pieusse so Martin went back to fetch the "Limoux-sine". The rest of us continued on for a total of 23 miles and 1K of climbing. Nice and easy. We finished with a pizza on the square.

Riding out of Limoux again

How many brothers does it take to change a flat tire?

Climbing out of St. Hilaire

After lunch we retired to Montfaucon for some time out of the sun. The hotel arranged for a massage therapist to come over -- one that has been doing massage therapy for pro and amateur cycling teams for over ten years. It gets no better.

For dinner we drove into Carcassonne and had a great meal in the old walled city. En route, we stopped off at the Decathlon store to pick up some additional supplies. Matt had to buy a new tire to replace the blowout, and he managed to pick up some gorgeous baby blue ones to match his bike. Matt also managed to surreptitiously insert a mesh-front jockstrap into Martin's shopping basket, who didn't notice it until he pulled it out and handed it to the cashier.

We parked several miles away from Le Cite and walked past about 273 empty parking spaces before we finally arrived at the restaurant to meet the others. It was worth the walk, as I was finally able to get a fantasic cassoulet. For dessert, Robert ordered something called "Fruit Soup", which was not as bad as it sounds.

Martin testing out the new Do Rag from Francais Des Jeus

Martin having a WTF moment at the Decathlon store

Rich, Matt, Peter and Robert at Carcassonne