Distance / Ascent
– 193km / 4221m
Cols – Col du Pere
Cornere (69m), Col de las Portas (77m), Col de Ternere (240m), Col Saint Pierre
(240m), Col de la Quillane (1714m), Col de Trabesses (1920m), Port de Pailhères
(2001m)
Checkpoints – Cerbère,
Prades
GPS file – http://ridewithgps.com/routes/5484284
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| Flat, flat...Up! |
The first day of a
trip like this is always a bit of a shock to the system and waking up at 6am is
never much fun (especially when time zones mean it's really 5am). Today was no
different. We woke with a sense of apprehension, as we all knew that it was
going to be a long day in saddle!
A consequence of completing
the ride within 100 hours and across five days riding is that Day 1 is always
going to be the biggest day of the trip (and mainly uphill, as you approached
the Pyrenean foothills, for good measure). And so it was, Day 1 was the biggest
of the five both in terms of distance (193km) and ascent (RidewithGPS was
spitting out 4222m, slightly on the high side as it turned out). The first
major climb of the trip, the hors catégorie Port de Pailhères, coming at the
very end of the day. People were right to be worried.
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| #kitgrid |
After making one of
the most important decisions of the day – deciding what kit to wear – we headed
down for a big breakfast and some final bike tinkering before getting the first
stamp in our carnet (or in Gibson’s case a receipt – having already contrived
to have lost his card before even setting off).
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| Bike faff |
There was some
gaming of our start time – a later start on Day 1 meant more time to arrive in
Hendaye on Day 5 but also arriving potentially quite late in Ax-les-Thermes at the
end of Day 1. With a mixed ability group there was some balancing to be done
here and we eventually ended up rolling out a little before 8.30am.
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| Control 1 |
Looking at the
profile at the top of this post we had convinced ourselves that the hard work
wouldn't really start until approx. kilometre 80 and the first part of the day
would be a flat roll-out towards the Pyrenean foothills. It was, therefore, a
little bit of a shock to go straight into a climb as we left Cerbere and then
to head up and down the hilly coastal road. Fabulous views, but a little tough
on the legs so early in the day.
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| Into the mountains... |
It wasn't long
however before we found some respite on (false) flat roads as we motored as a
group towards our first planned stop in Prades – a chance to refuel and get our
second stamp of the trip.
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| Control 2 |
 |
| Style! |
In keeping with TGS
food stops, there was a fair amount of faffing and a healthy amount of junk
food (several pizzas, bowls of fries and cans of coke) thrown into the mix as
we took over a local cafe to the bemusement of the locals.
The faffing and the
second round of drinks/food (and Paddy 'losing' his gloves in his jersey
pocket) were probably a unconscious delaying tactic as Prades really did sit at
the base of the Pyrenees and the 'real' beginning of the trip. The gentle false
flat roads would quickly be replaced with a long drag up to Mont Louis and the
Col de la Quillane.
Having set off
together from Prades the slowly ramping climb to Mont Louis was soon upon us
and the group, weighed down with doughy pizza, began to fracture. Will, Gibson,
Hankey and I were towards the front tapping out a good rhythm as we pulled away
from the rest.
As the road started
to ramp up even more, so did the temperature. Soon we were riding on wide roads
under the baking midday heat, as the tree cover retreated from us. I found
myself riding, chatting with Hankey as we continued to keep a good pace and
left Will and Gibson slightly further back on the road.
As we chatted Hankey
dropped back to let some traffic pass. After a few minutes I turned round; she
was gone – something not lost on Will as him and Gibson caught her a short
while later. Hankey would continue to push herself just a little too much for
the rest of the week, gradually, bit by bit taking herself down both physically
and mentally…
As I continued
alone, the heat intensifying, the road surface worsened. My bike bounced along
the striated concrete road surface, gravel flicking up everywhere. The heat so
oppressive and the road so boring now that with my head down, focussing on the
patch of road five yards in from of me only, I almost took myself out as I
clattered into a roadworks sign!
As the climb
shallowed and came towards its end I passed through the tourist site of Mont
Louis and on towards Col de la Quillane – our agreed lunch stop off point.
Unbeknown to me I had passed Steve, who had been waiting at Mont Louis, on my
way through. Arriving at Col de la Quillane to find nothing, not even a
mountain refuge shack, I continued down the other side of the climb and on
towards the next town.
Hearing my phone
ring, I stopped to check my voicemeail and found that everyone had stopped in
Mont Louis for lunch…! Faced with the prospect of heading back up the hill to
meet them I decided to wait it out in the main square of the small town of
Formigeurres.
Wait it out I did,
for two whole hours, before Will, Gibson and Hankey finally arrived and we
descended down the base of Port de Pailhères together.
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| The first challenge of the trip.... #baaw |
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| Lots of yellow that should be red..... |
I have fond memories
of my first climb up Port de Pailhères in 2010 – rain, electrical
storms, hail stone,s the sixe of sugar cubes hiding in a ditch, Phil getting
knocked off his bike by a cow, but mainly just the rugged beauty of the road
and climb. We had actually included the Port de Pailhères as an ‘additional
extra’ to avoid spending the whole day on busy main roads (and to trim some
distance off the day) and I was glad we did despite it being a brute of a
climb. It really is the archetypical Pyrenean climb – varying and inconsistent
gradient, narrow roads, rugged landscapes and sheep and cows roaming free
across the roads. Climbing at my own pace, I eventually found myself alone on
the road with the sheep.
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| Out of my way sheep! |
I hit the top as the
light began fading and took in the great views briefly before heading down on a
fast and exhilarating descent.
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| Up, Up, UP! |
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| 19km to go #baaw |
As I dropped like a
stone down the side of the mountain, suddenly I couldn’t steer my bike. My
front tyre had burst and my front wheel had no traction at all. I hit the
brakes hard as I dared and slowed across the road and into the grass verge.
Quickly replacing
the inner tube I was on my way again and shortly arrived at the hotel in
Ax-les-Thermes just in time for dinner (having received an email from the
hotelier – concerned that we were not going to turn up).
Over the next hour
and a half the rest of the group rolled in, exhausted but buoyed by the day’s
achievements!
Dinner was literally
(in its newly ordained meaning) hovered up before we all retired to our rooms
for the evening.
