July 16 Luz-St Sauveur Rest Day Zero K

After all the climbing the past 3 days I needed a day off. And my brake pads needed upgraded. The descents really wear down the brakes. Yes I do use my brakes. My old buddy John Vanslander never used his brakes but if you know John.... enough said. Hey John remember that time coming off Laurel Ridge from Johnstown and I passed you going 65. I was crazy, but only for a few seconds. Now I don't even hit 45. Just taking it easy. The bottom photo is of an old castle or fort that overlooked my campground.

PLEASE STOP BACK LATER FOR PHOTOS. This Cyber Cafe HAS SLOW Computers.

July 17 Luz-Ardiden, Col du Tourmalet,Col d'Aspin, Luz-St Sauveur to Pailhac(Arreau) 93K

Three BIG climbs in one day. Where do I begin? I started the day planning to do two climbs, the Luz Ardiden without my panniers, then the famous and very difficult Col du Tourmalet. The weather had been great, sunny and warm, but it didn't hold true for my day to climb the Tourmalet. The Luz Ardiden was pretty difficult. The middle 3K was 9% gradient. Half way up I entered the clouds. By the top I was in thick wet fog. Visibility was maybe 20 meters/yards. I took photos and threw on my rain gear and took off down the mountain. I know I missed out on some beautiful views, but that goes with touring through high mountains. But it's still an amazing experience. I did manage two photos on the way down; the village of Grust and a look down on Luz-St Sauveur. Back in Luz-St Sauveur I packed my bike and was off and going up the Col du Tourmalet. The Town and my campground are/were at the base of the Tourmalet. The climb up the Col du Tourmalet is 18K/11.2 Miles and has mythical status in the Tour de France. It is now a part of Cycling Simmons' mythical tours. This was my first of the big and famous climbs that I would be riding my fully-loaded bike, and it would just have to be the biggest, baddest climb of the Pyrenees. I was intent on making it all the way to the top without stopping. As I cycled up I questioned whether this was really necessary. "But of course it is.", I said to myself. There's no walking your bike in cycling!!!! I knew the Tourmalet was advertised as a 7.5% average climb, but that belies the difficulty of most of the climb. Every Kilometer is a sign posting the % gradient, the elevation, and how far to go. Each K was 7%, 8%, and 9% for the first 9 kilometers. Then, thankfully there is a kilometer at 5%, then right back to 8% and 9 %. About with 5K to go I was in the clouds, then thick clouds, almost zero visibility. IT WAS AWESOME! Climbing the Tourmalet was an exercise in mental toughness with a little fitness added in. You know you are climbing big mountains when you are looking forward to the 5K mark so you only have 3 Miles to go. I anxiously waited to see the 1K sign. Surely it would reveal an easy % for the last push, greet me with kindness for my efforts. But after 17 Kilometers the sign read 10%. It is a creul mountain. At the top there is a restaurant to take cover in. I took photos of the inside which I'll post later at a faster computer. The photos outdoors are in thick fog, but they say it all I think. I descended off the Tourmalet in full cold-weather gear in cold rain. I couldn't see much except the names of Tour de France competitors scrawled on the road. At the bottom, in St Marie-de-Campan, I met two Spanish cyclists out touring for a week. We'd meet up later that night at the campground in Pailhac, but first I had to climb the Col D'Aspin. Though it is not known as one of the tougher climbs in the TDF it is still a category 1 climb I believe. Four of the final 5 K are at 7.5% - 9%. So it was difficult after all the climbing I had done. Going over the top it was fog and wind. What an incredible descent. I made it to the first campground I saw a sign for. Wouldn't you know it, only 1K away - all up hill.

July 18 Pailhac(Arreau) to St Lary-Soulan 15K and Pla d'Adet

The valley from Arreau to St Lary is really special. Mountains rise all around, rolling hills of farmland, water rushing here and there. I knew from this short, and mostly flat and rolling terrain that my legs were toasted. About 4K from St Lary a French cyclist on his Specialized road bike pulled alongside and we began to talk. He spoke good English and he asked about my tour and he led me to the Office of Tourism in St Lary. (More to this story tomorrow). I got all the requisite information for my stay in St Lary and acquired my campsite at the 4Star Municipal Campground. A really nice setting in somewhat of a resort/skiing town. Anyway against my better judgment I decided to do a climb since I didn't want to let such a beautiful day go by. Besides the Pla d'Adet only had an advertised 7.5% gradient and I wouldn't have my load. What's the big deal? Well, the big deal is that the info on gradients don't tell the entire story about a climb. By the way, George Hincapie won on the Pla d'Adet a few years back. It is a 10K climb, but the first 7 kilometers are 9% and 10%. The last 3 kilometers are 5%, 6%, and 8%. It was/is a killer climb.

July 19 St Lary-Soulan to Bagneres-de-Luchon 55K, Col d' Val Louron d'Azet, Col d'Peyersuorde

A fabulous day. Beautiful weather, perfectly blue sky. I began the climb of the Col d'Azet at 7:40 A.M. so most of the way up the 10K climb I was in the shade of the mountain. My legs needed a day off, but I wanted my day off to be in Bagneres-de-Luchon where there are two bike shops. I stopped twice climbing Col d'Azet for photo opportunities. Incredible beauty. One photo, 2K from the top, is back at St Lary and entire climb of Pla d'Adet can be seen. I had some good and fun conversations on top of Azet with some French cyclists. I received some "bravos" for making it up with my panniers. A fantastic downhill run into Loudenvielle watching paragliders as I rolled along. Once in Loudenvielle I stopped for a break when I hear, "do you remember me?". It was the road cyclist from yesterday who had guided me into St Lary. We had a fantastic talk, his wife and an older gentleman were in on it as well. Sorry to say I never got his name. There are photos of these wonderful folks. The older man in the photo rides his bike 50K or so every third day including one of the Cols (big climbs). Get this! He is eighty years old!!! I hope to add to this later. I am now in Bagneres-de-Luchon where I'll stay for two nights, taking a zero day tomorrow(Sunday). Then on monday I'll cross into Spain for a few miles and one big climb, the Col du Portillon.

July 20 Bagneres-de-Luchon Rest Day

I started my day of rest attending the Roman Catholic Mass. It was in French of course and I understood 4 words I believe. No pun intended. They were; Hallelujah, resurrection, Adonai, and Amen!!!! What more do you need to understand. Afterwards I sat on a park bench watching the cyclists go by and the French buy there daily bread at the Boulangerie across the street. Man, the French take there "Daily Bread" seriously. "Give us THIS DAY our Daily Bread". An older woman just pedaled by on her bike with one pannier and a handlebar bag, out shopping. I´m trying to picture where I would see that in America. In the evening I discovered the Creperies had the Tour de France on TV so I planted myself at a table and enjoyed a buckwheat pancake stuffed with ham & cheese. Really good eats. Tomorrow Spain!!!

July 21 Bagneres-de-Luchon FRANCE to Sort SPAIN 113 K / 70 Miles, Col Du Portillon & Port de la Bonaigua

I just had to do it. Take on the Spanish Pyrenees. I was just going to Climb the Col du Portillon into Spain and 20 kilometers later be right back in France, but I decided to cycle across the Spanish side of the Pyrenees. Wild, spectacular, high desert, wilderness, with very few towns, lots of incredibly challenging climbs and scintilating descents. I started the day climbing Col du Portillon under overcast skies and the climb is mostly in the trees, so it wasn´t a favorite on my list of climbs but it did have a few 10% sections that got my attention. 5K from the top I´m in cloudy mist and once at the top I had to put on my front lights for the descent. And there was not one sign saying you were leaving Fance or entering Spain. What´s that about? The road N-230 & C-28 had good shoulders all the way to Baqueira where they disappearded as the climb up to the Port de la Bonaigua began. What a climb. The first sign I spotted said 12K and 6% to the top. What a beautiful climb. About 2K from the top a carload of folks going slowly past on a hairpin turn broke into applause for me. I just smiled. The descent to Esterri d´Aneu was 20 kilometers of just fantastic and glorious scenery. Even though the Spanish Electric companies have thrown up a gazillion power lines, it just couldn´t ruin the specially carved out mountains. In Esterri I stopped at a Spanish version of a Boulangerie and had "something". It looked like pizza without cheese. It had a bunch of diced up "somethings". And it was topped with a big sausage link. It was good. I had 2 pieces. I made it to the town of Sort where the campground had more French & Dutch vacationers than Spanish.

July 22 Sort SPAIN to Sant Llorenc de Morunys SPAIN 118 K / 74 Miles , Coll del Canto & Coll de Jou

Another perfectly blue sky in the Spanish Pyrenees. In fact I would be blessed with 4 perfect days in a row. Not a cloud. In the afternoons it would get pretty hot. But at the high elevations I was cycling at the air was cool. At the 6 or 7 tunnels I passed through I could stop and the air was coming through the tunnel so it felt like standing in front of an air conditioner. Cool, eh!!! The Spanish campgrounds are not as nice as the French ones. And they are not in or near the center of town. They are placed on the outskirts. I love the way the French system melds so well with cycle-touring. EXCEPT FOR ONE THING. France, as well as Spain, and I guess all of Europe, shun the dryer. You know, as in washer and dryer. Not one campground has had a dryer. And many have no washing machines. They all have plenty of wash basins to do your clothes by hand. Then you hang them to dry. This may work well with car campers who have 2 weeks worth of clothes for a one week vacation. If it rains you just grab some clothes from deep in your car trunk. But a cycle-tourist has 2 cycling shorts, 3 shirts, 1 hiking pants, 2 pair socks....get the point. You gotta clean ém and DRY THEM. But you can´t. So what'ya do? Enough ramblings! Today I had two Cols to climb. I started the day drifting for about a mile through the town of Sort taking in the noises. The Spanish are noisier than the French. Kind of like Americans. Or is it that the French are just quiet. Once I drifted across town I turned left and started a 21K / 13 Mile climb. Good Morning Spain!!! It was at the top of this climb I realized I had entered hardcore wilderness. High desert, very few towns & they had no stores. The descent off Coll de Canto was gorgeous. I stopped in Adrall for water, asked a young lady for the supermarket so I could get water, she says there is no market but "uno momento" and runs into her place and comes out with a 1 1/2 litre bottle for me. Nice people. The next 20K was on more of a main road/C-14, but its´ saving grace was that it had a 3 foot shoulder and was downhill. A super scenic route. A few times the sheer rock faces would encroach on the roadways and the 3 foot shoulder disappeared so I had to be extra diligent not to allow myself to get caught in a blind spot to traffic. Thankfully there was not much traffic. Then I turned onto an especially spectacular road, L-401. It started with a 10K climb to the village of Alinya where I found 8 Russian cycle-tourists shading themselves from the sun & heat of the day. We joked about who I was & who they were. And they invited me to sit with them out of the sun. Most of them spoke with me in English, and very well at that! I took a picture of Dima and Sveta by the village water spout. If you read this Dima, send me an email!!! I pulled out of Alinya about 4:45 and WOW, what a ride. Like the Blue Ridge Parkway with almost no cars for 42 kilometers only I´m in the Spanish Pyrenean wilderness where the road hangs off the sides of mountains and it is straight down for 100.s of feet. Sometimes there are guardrails, other times there are 6 foot long stone walls with 3 foot gaps in between (see photo). I guess they figure a car won´t fit between the stone walls, BUT A BIKE WILL !!!!!!!!! Did I mention I saw an "El Pollo Loco" back in Esterri d´Aneu. Like the ones in Southern California. I´m serious. I wish I had stopped now. I arrived at Sant Llorenc de Murony and my least favorite campground yet. Don´t you just love those gravel tent sites? Church bells do something a little different in Sant Llorenc. They ring 4 times to warn you they are about to ring out the time. And as in France the process is repeated 1 to 2 minutes later. ALL NIGHT LONG!