It really is a long way home! Especially when the silly moo at the Lufthansa check in counter ignores your very specific requests and puts you in what must easily be the worst seats on the plane. The longest 10 hrs of my life.
And then to top it all, I forgot my duty free bag at the XRay machines at OR Tambo security.
Sunday, July 5, 2009
Saturday, July 4, 2009
Running Tourmalet
They wanted to ride Tourmalet again. Enough is enough! Decided I was going to run some (all) of the way up. And if you thought riding was tough then trying running up. Discretion became the better part of valour with 12k to go and I turned round. I'd never thought how I was going to get down and on such a hot day where I was going to get something to drink. Despite all this still managed a 20k run for the day.
Spent the rest of the day watching the tour prologue on TV and packing the bikes.
Dinner was served by Regine's daughter again. Awesome. Entertained by Terry for the rest of the evening. There's no end to this man's stories.
Spent the rest of the day watching the tour prologue on TV and packing the bikes.
Dinner was served by Regine's daughter again. Awesome. Entertained by Terry for the rest of the evening. There's no end to this man's stories.
Friday, July 3, 2009
Tourmalet and Luz Ardiden
Up the Tourmalet AGAIN. This is the only disadvantage of where we stay. If we want to to get to most of the famous Pyrenean climbs we have to go over the frikkin Tourmalet.
Not too bad today though. Think the "easy" day yesterday helped me recover a little. Really am amazed at the tolerance of the people her. Halfway up all the traffic was delayed while 2 shepherds moved there flock accross the main road to the upper slopes of the mountain. For about 10 minutes no cars could get by - I was able to worm my way through the sheep. But I was amazed - no hooting, no swearing (flocking sheep!!!), no threats of violence. Everybody just waited patiently and tolerated another human being going about his livelihood. I could really do with that kind of stress free society.
On the way up passed a kiwi (they're all nuts that lot) on a mountain bike towing a small trailer. Met up with him at the top and stood chatting to him while I waited for Nicky and Mark. (they'd stopped for drinks in La Mongie so took almost an hour longer to get up.)Interesting chap old Dennis. Travelling round Europe on his bike - and reminded me why you need a special laid back personality to do that kind of thing.
Cycling off the top of the Tourmalet we descended into some quite thick cloud. This made for some tricky riding. Stopped in St Saveur for a "Schwarma and chips". Dennis caught up with us again and entertained us with some more stories and photos of his travels. Think he must have been lonely as he seemed reluctant to see us go.
Luz Ardiden is "that" climb that Lance's handlebar hooked on a young girls bag and he crashed, bringing down Mayo and almost Ulrich. 2004, I think. Wished I'd been able to do this ride on a clear day. Unfortunately the cloud a bit thick so that you couldn;t see very far ahead of you. We missed out on the view and the full effect of the switchbacks (and there were a lot of them) as they snaked up the mountain.
Agaain not thaaaaat tough a climb. I'm actually coming to the conclusion that the Pyrenean climbs are, dare I say it, "easier" than the alpine ones!!!!! They're not as steep, but they do seem to be longer. And then also the road surface here is not as smooth as in the alps. But hey this is just my opinion.
Not too bad today though. Think the "easy" day yesterday helped me recover a little. Really am amazed at the tolerance of the people her. Halfway up all the traffic was delayed while 2 shepherds moved there flock accross the main road to the upper slopes of the mountain. For about 10 minutes no cars could get by - I was able to worm my way through the sheep. But I was amazed - no hooting, no swearing (flocking sheep!!!), no threats of violence. Everybody just waited patiently and tolerated another human being going about his livelihood. I could really do with that kind of stress free society.
On the way up passed a kiwi (they're all nuts that lot) on a mountain bike towing a small trailer. Met up with him at the top and stood chatting to him while I waited for Nicky and Mark. (they'd stopped for drinks in La Mongie so took almost an hour longer to get up.)Interesting chap old Dennis. Travelling round Europe on his bike - and reminded me why you need a special laid back personality to do that kind of thing.
Cycling off the top of the Tourmalet we descended into some quite thick cloud. This made for some tricky riding. Stopped in St Saveur for a "Schwarma and chips". Dennis caught up with us again and entertained us with some more stories and photos of his travels. Think he must have been lonely as he seemed reluctant to see us go.
Luz Ardiden is "that" climb that Lance's handlebar hooked on a young girls bag and he crashed, bringing down Mayo and almost Ulrich. 2004, I think. Wished I'd been able to do this ride on a clear day. Unfortunately the cloud a bit thick so that you couldn;t see very far ahead of you. We missed out on the view and the full effect of the switchbacks (and there were a lot of them) as they snaked up the mountain.
Agaain not thaaaaat tough a climb. I'm actually coming to the conclusion that the Pyrenean climbs are, dare I say it, "easier" than the alpine ones!!!!! They're not as steep, but they do seem to be longer. And then also the road surface here is not as smooth as in the alps. But hey this is just my opinion.
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Lourdes
Today we decided to send the Canadians off on their won. The "racing" is turning the riding into a little bit more of a suffer fest than we'd like.
Still Mark and I started off the day with a run to Campan. I needed some new gloves and a spare tube. On the way stopped off for a coffee at a pavement coffee shop. On the way back decided to try running one of the hiking trails. FANTASTIC. Turned our run into a 2h30 "adventure", but really beautiful. This area is littered with hiking trails. Nicky is keen to try and walk up to the Pic du Midi. The highest peak in the Pyrenees.
Rest of the day spent taking a more relaxed ride into Lourdes and back. Gone over to the dark side have I - lunch at Macdonalds. Really a nice day out.
Had dinner at a restaurant at Peyolle. Usually the restaurant is closed, but Regine organised for them to open specially for us. Highlights were the duck carpaccio starter and the "orange" crepes.
Evening ended with Matt slamming Brent's finger in the mini-bus door. Must have been really painful. Didn't quieten him down much though.
Still Mark and I started off the day with a run to Campan. I needed some new gloves and a spare tube. On the way stopped off for a coffee at a pavement coffee shop. On the way back decided to try running one of the hiking trails. FANTASTIC. Turned our run into a 2h30 "adventure", but really beautiful. This area is littered with hiking trails. Nicky is keen to try and walk up to the Pic du Midi. The highest peak in the Pyrenees.
Rest of the day spent taking a more relaxed ride into Lourdes and back. Gone over to the dark side have I - lunch at Macdonalds. Really a nice day out.
Had dinner at a restaurant at Peyolle. Usually the restaurant is closed, but Regine organised for them to open specially for us. Highlights were the duck carpaccio starter and the "orange" crepes.
Evening ended with Matt slamming Brent's finger in the mini-bus door. Must have been really painful. Didn't quieten him down much though.
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Aspin, Col d Perysourde
Got to my bike this morning only to find a flat tyre. Thought I did a good job changing the tube and looking for any embedded debris. Not so! Didn't even make st m d Campan before being on the rim again. Being a blazing hot day - found myself a nice little sit down spot by the river to change the tyre. This time found a little piece of glass. Hoped that this would be the last of my tyre problems - especially since everybody had gone on ahead and I was down to my last tube.
Cycled up the Aspin easier today, despite the heat. Must be acclimatising. I'm glad I'm getting to Hawaii a full week before the race. Definately takes a few days to get used to the heat. Met up with everybody on the top of the Aspin and then free wheeled down into Luz ? (forget the last part of this town's name - better look it up). Mark flatted coming into town.
Met up with everybody in the town square. Where we got stuck into some pasteries. My diet is going for a ball of shit here. These rides are just too tough to be counting calories. I'm on holiday!!!
And then it was on to the Perysourde. Not a bad ride. The top was again not that remarkable. Except that we couldn't help notice the HUGE thunderstorm that was building. It was mean enough for the SA's to skip lunch in Luz and make a dash for home. We didn't even make it out of down before it came down. Lightning and all!!! We hid in a convenient bus shelter for a bout 45minutes until the worst of it had passed. And then proceeded in the rain up what turned out to be probably the nicest ride of the week. Again I forget the name of the pass - its not a famous climb but stunning all the same. Passes through lush forests with a gentle gradient. Although it does go on a bit (20 odd km) its definately worth it. The descent is through the Pyrenean national park and joins up at the foot of the Aspin at Peyoulle.
Tonight Regine's daughter served us dinner. Paste de Mer. Love the way the French eat. Salad for starters, then main, then dessert and always cheese an biscuits.Awesome.
Cycled up the Aspin easier today, despite the heat. Must be acclimatising. I'm glad I'm getting to Hawaii a full week before the race. Definately takes a few days to get used to the heat. Met up with everybody on the top of the Aspin and then free wheeled down into Luz ? (forget the last part of this town's name - better look it up). Mark flatted coming into town.
Met up with everybody in the town square. Where we got stuck into some pasteries. My diet is going for a ball of shit here. These rides are just too tough to be counting calories. I'm on holiday!!!
And then it was on to the Perysourde. Not a bad ride. The top was again not that remarkable. Except that we couldn't help notice the HUGE thunderstorm that was building. It was mean enough for the SA's to skip lunch in Luz and make a dash for home. We didn't even make it out of down before it came down. Lightning and all!!! We hid in a convenient bus shelter for a bout 45minutes until the worst of it had passed. And then proceeded in the rain up what turned out to be probably the nicest ride of the week. Again I forget the name of the pass - its not a famous climb but stunning all the same. Passes through lush forests with a gentle gradient. Although it does go on a bit (20 odd km) its definately worth it. The descent is through the Pyrenean national park and joins up at the foot of the Aspin at Peyoulle.
Tonight Regine's daughter served us dinner. Paste de Mer. Love the way the French eat. Salad for starters, then main, then dessert and always cheese an biscuits.Awesome.
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