Tag Archives: France

This is what happens when you improvise

Personal stuff, Ride reports (not Tu/Th), Tdf trip planning, , ,
There’s no mystery to this spot; it’s as steep as it looks. Maybe steeper. Col d’Andorre it’s called.

Ouch. It was going to be an “easy” day between two pretty tough ones, a loop from Lourdes up the valley to Argeles Gazost, with a little kicker up D102 for fun. Looked like about 800 feet of climbing on that loop. Which would have been fine, except, at the top, there’s a tiny little orange sign next to a water faucet (and it’s 94 degrees so you’ve definitely stopped for the water!). Col d’Andorre, 6km. Hmm. How bad can it be?

Gravel… again!
We went just far enough to ensure that it was, in fact, gravel forever.

Pretty darned bad, and without even the satisfaction of completing it, thanks to it turning to gravel after about 4km or so. Steep? Yes, it’s Sonora Pass steep. Great views, little traffic, but wow. Did get us KOMs for that piece though, primarily because only one other Strava person has ever dared to try it before.

Live from France (Ski station at top of Gavernie)

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From some place high above Gavernie. Would be scenic if not for the clouds.

(And would be more wordy if I hadn’t uploaded that from my iPhone while on the ride, and I wasn’t carrying my regular glasses so to say I’m blind when it comes to using the tiny screen and keyboard is an understatement!)

Today was our first day out on the Bike Fridays in France; a supposed-to-be-easy ride that turned into 72 miles and quite a bit of climbing. See, I’d read about this national park at the end of a road that was supposed to have awe-inspiring views of waterfalls and glaciers and all sorts of stuff we might have been able to see where it not for the clouds that had moved in on us. But it was a good ride, we both rode pretty strongly (and for once, I think I was the better climber overall, or at least towards the end) and Strava says we did really well despite riding pretty heavy bikes and, in my case, loaded down with all sorts of gear.

Tomorrow is our first day to intercept the ‘Tour, in the mountains above Foix. Film at 11. But for now you can see the Strava details and another French encounter with sheep.