hello all,

so i am off to the Pyrenees next Friday (5 sept) and the Tourmalet, Hautacam and the Aubisque beckon.

getting there via Toulouse and settling near Lourdes I will pick up a motor but essentially need to rent some high end spec to carry my arse up those climbs. anyone know of any bike rental places in the area? or recommend some websites i should know about for riding round there.

mainly i have a map, my legs and the love of jesus in pretty green eyes. i figure a bike might help though.

much appreciated

I've not used these folk myself but a friend has and was happy with the service;

http://www.pyreneesmultisport.com/index.htm

I hope you have a great time. The Pyrenees are very beautiful and some of those climbs are epic. I'd recommend the Aubisque and the Tourmalet. Epic.

Awesome stuff dude! Hope all that hill climb training in Surrey comes in handy. Don't have any details, but doesn't Laurent Fignon do guided stuff around the Pyrenees? That'd be pretty legendary to ride shoulder to shoulder with the big man. At the very least you could borrow his bike.

It's official: I'm envious.

there's a town near the Pyrenees that have some bike shop, I walked the Pyrenees once with my father, great walk, thought going up and down a handful of time is a bit annoying.

sounds like an epic trip MrJ

bon voyage ya old goat

oh man i'm jealous!

have a good one.

If you're in Toulouse anyway there's a massive Decathlon which will set you up with everything you need for very very cheap. God bless French Decathlon, we need more of those stores in this country. For the record, the ride from Carcassonne (where they filmed Robin Hood! Ha!) to Puigcerda in Spain is quiet and beautiful, demanding but not insane. In the Valley of Andorra its utterly gorgeous. Enjoy !!!

Looks like you can hire bikes from these boys for 35 Euros a day: http://www.francealacarte.com/fignon.htm

This is Laurent's cycling place, but it looks pretty pricey: http://bicyclingworld.com/templates/...SupplierID=778

cheers guys, especially andyp and illy for those links. will get on to them later. tarka, nice one about the decathlon in toulouse. may look out for that too

That Pyrenees Multisport company have goregous Look bikes for hire! You can even buy one if you want to by the looks of it jonny ;0)

Shame they're equipped with Shitmano, but you can't have everything :S

If I don't say it on Sunday I'll say it now, have a great time!

yeah sam, i had noticed the Looks and certainly would go for that before Planet X. i am not too fussed really though but would be nice to be on a French bike i spose.

catch ya on sunday dude

Hey Jonny, sounds like a nice jolly to look forward to, v jealous.

I've just found the contact details for an English guy I met at the Etape who runs cycling tours/holidays in the Pyrenees - Pyractif.com - pm me for his email/contact no. He was a nice, laid back guy, I'm sure he'd pass on some useful contacts for you.

Although it's very much geared to the Etape route, check out the Rapha guide for the awesome climbs you'll be doing, and some great photography of the decents - it was flipping shrouded in freezing, thick fog when I came down the Tourmalet!
http://www.rapha.cc/index.php?page=490

enjoy!

v. jealous. +1 to Chopsicle's weather warning as I woke up to this, early Sept last year

In fact the weather is fabulous at the moment - 32° today here in Toulouse with fairly warm settled weather promised for the first half of Sept. Doesn't mean there won't be freezing fog coming down the Tourmalet though ... that's part of the charm!

someone wait for jonny on top with some newspapers!

good luck jonny. no doubt you'll have fun getting over and down them cols. take care out there dude

I stayed in a little town called Les Cabannes some years ago, in between Ax-les-Thermes and Ussat-les-Bains from memory. It's on the route from Montauban to Andorra so might be trafficy this time of year although this mainly comprises non-stop coaches passing through. Nice location, nestling in the foothills of the Pyrenees. There is a road from the village that leads up to the first high mountain of the Pyrenees, past a chateau. Nice pension run by a roguish Parisian ex-boxer, with fabulous charcuterie, set in a timeless square off the main route. Ussat has a Roman type arcade with literally dozens of baths for sauna massage and health, etc. The area is the Arriege, and is steeped in Cathar history. Well worth a visit. Ax smells of suphur and the mud is yellowish, by the way.

Sounds great Captain. don't forget to pack a wide range of clothing for all weathers in all styles...
let us know what you found out on the bike rental front when you get back.

^ I just sat back and pictured Fiddy regaling that tale, crackling fire in the background, glass of port in the hand, fine platter of cured meats and cheeses on the side table...

You slag, Slag.

So jonny, I take it you're back now. How was your trip? What high end spec did you rent?

Keen to hear about this too!

report on my desk by close of play, Johnson.

cheers guys - will get some words up when i have sorted out some accompanying pictures too. like the one of me still looking fresh as a daisy at the 1km to go mark on the Tourmalet ;)

lol - looking forward to it.

<cough>

You still waiting to get your snaps back from Bonus Print, Jonny??....

oops, just been a bit lame sam. must. try. harder.

will sort soon

sorry for taking yonks but for anyone still interested some pics and few words.

all fucking gravy in the pyrenees.


spent the first couple of days on all day hikes and then on the third took a rest day and went rafting. it gave the legs a rest but due to a shortage of water was a good few hours of rowing.
cancelled the high end spec booked prior to travelling when we realised there was a semi-decent bike hire place in our local town - Argeles Gazost.

me and the missus got ourselves a couple of quite ordinary but perfectly serviceable Cannondales - CAD4.

anyway, we took a ride up three Cols on the wednesday. the Col de Borderes, Col de Soulor and the Col D'Aubisque. the smaller Col de Borderes literally started at our campsite so could not be avoided. though small it has varyingly been classed as a Cat 3 and a Cat 1 in the Tour.
I understand that the category given to a climb can very dependent on where it is tackled in the stage. So I am taking it as a Cat 3 on the way out (where it was a piece of piss) and Cat 1 on the way back (certainly a lot harder after the hilly miles in the legs at that point).


Dropping off it into Arrens it was straight up the Soulor and then on to the Aubisque. To be honest the Soulor was the main climb because coming at the Aubisque from this side meant most of the hard work is done there.

(got to the top of the Aubisque only to realise Flickwg had got there before us)


The road between the Soulor and on to the Aubisque was without doubt the most spectacular of the riding done. Castellated walls, a couple of tunnels, amazingly clear sunny day for glorious views. Needless to say, the pictures don't do it justice.

Next day I went off solo to tackle the col du Tourmalet. Pretty much parked up about 30k from the summit and jumped on the wheels. It was just climb, climb, climb, but never anything steep.

You get a sign every kilometre telling you your altitude and the average gradient for the next kilometre. I think with the 12k to go sign had an average of 10.5% and I started thinking shit that is getting a little steep a bit early. But the average never went over that and in fact hovered around 9%.

You just sit on your bike and turn the pedals, and watch the sweat and rain just drip on to your top tube. Was grateful to have a granny ring on the bike. Didn't resort to it the day before but the Tourmalet is relentless and I was happy to have the extra gear.

With 10k to go the storm began. Riding through clouds. Dodging cows on the road. You could hear their bells long before you could see the whites of their dopey eyes through the mist. Clear for the last 4k from La Mongie to the top, and managed to pick off a couple of others doing the climb in that last drag. Windy as fuck at the top, fork lightning, a whole load of angry natural stuff - the stuff that permits you to use the word, epic.

aand was grateful to sink a quick coffee, get the warm warmers and gilet on and get ready for the descent. Stuck her in the big ring and let rip - fucking awesome, despite practically zero vis for about 5k of it.

Definitely want to get back there or the Alps and spend a week riding, rather than just a couple of days.

all fucking gravy

looks amazing!

Nice report jonny, sounds like you had a great time :-)

Epic stuff jonny. I especially liked this;

"You just sit on your bike and turn the pedals, and watch the sweat and rain just drip on to your top tube."

nice report.
i wouldn't mention the granny ring though :-)
a compact double and 27t is far more noble.

ya didn't do it fixed than Jonny?

chapeau Gentleman J, looks like a great adventure

to be honest i was pretty much fixed in to the granny ring for the last 8k or so on the Tourmalet. not too ashamed to admit it.

cheers for the comments guys.

Nice on Jonny, this looks wicked. You could write stuff for Rapha labels with your prose (in a good way!).