Girona

Final Day

For our last ride we joined with Dan's second group (Arrived into town the day before) and headed out for a ~85km loop starting in Girona, out towards the Med. coast and back to the city.

Girona is much larger than most of the towns we have navigated and it took a good 45minutes to get out of the city and nearby towns until we were on quiet roads. Most of the terrain was forested hills broken by small farms and towns offering something for everyone.

Being our last day, we all seemed to want to make the most of it so the pace was high as we pushed hard over the short climbs and nearly all city signs were contested.

The final climbs was long, steep and HOT. Ryan, Tom, Randy and myself were together at the bottom, but knew little of this climb except that it was the longest of the day and had a few steep sections. Like usual, Ryan soon gapped us so the three of stayed together keeping the pace steady so we get this climb over and fine some shade while we waited to regroup with the others. The temp was well over 100 degrees so keeping hydrated and cool as possible was key.

The heat took its toll on two people in the second group causing some early signs of heat stroke. Not good! After getting the two in better shape we continue on to a lone cafe on the descent that the others knew about from another ride. There we enjoyed ice water, Cokes, gazpacho soup and other local dishes.

With heavy lunch legs we pedaled the remaining 7k back Girona. On this last stretch Tom believes he took the days city sprint jersey by taking the sign into Girona however, Ryan and myself have sent dissent to the organizing body due to poor sportsmanship by attacking the group of it was splintered by a confusing round about.

Once back we quickly got out of out cycling clothes and got to the task of packing our bikes for the return trip to Seattle. Below the Hotel Historic was a nice square near the Univ. of Girona perfectly suited for the the task and as a bonus was next door to a cafe with cold Damm beer. Tom had the extra challenge of packing his bike and broken frame into a box designed for a single bike, but after a bit everything fit. All we can hope is that the bikes make it back to Seattle in one piece.

Last Day in France

Last Day in France


For our last two nights in France we are staying in the small village of Bugarach which sits on the shadow in the Pic de Bugarach. This place is fantastic and seems to be the favorite place so far. The hotel is next to the town church and is likely an old monestary. the room arelarge and open with high ceilings and nice wood floors. The Dutch couple that runs it have done a great job combining old and new. Dinner was fresh trout and salads from their garden.

After breakfast we headed out for a 4 hour loop around the area as well as a side trip down the Gorges de Galamus. The weather was sunny and hot which helped keep the pace pretty mellow. The area is much drier than the others areas we have been riding in the Pyrenees. It reminds me a lot of the southwest Rocky mountains. In all just shy of 80km and 1200m of climbing.

Tomorrow we will pack up and drive to Girona, Spain for The last couple days of our trip. Girona is a very popular base for US cyclists riding in Europe. Who knows who we may run into.

The 13th Day

Today was my day to drive the van to Bugarast and then reverse the route and meet up with the others at some point.

The drive was nice and took about 2 hours and the only thing to note was a low fly-by the French airforce.

Once in Bugarast i cheecked with the Inn keepers and then headed out meet the others.

Day 12--Tourist Time.

Dan went for a ride.

....we went to the castle

Day 11--The Sting of the Climb

Day 11---Today was Dan's day to drive the van so Randy, Ryan, Tom and myself headed out from St. Girons toward the town of Oust, Col de Latrape, Aulus, Col d' Agnes to finish in Foix, Fr. The weather started cool and overcast as we road out from St. Girons along the Salar river. This river was extremely clear and popular with fisherman and river kayakers. Another thing that was popular was Tom's muffin. Just as Tom took a bite a bee landed on the muffin and was consumed with the muffin in a single bit. As can be imagined, hilarity soon broke out as the bee tried to gain is freedom by stinging Tom in the mouth and on the lips. The bee was soon free and Tom less than happy.

We warmed up as we turned into the Vallee d' Ustou and slowly began to gain on the up coming Col de Letrape. We soon caught up to local man out for his morning ride and he joined our group for a few kilometers until he peeled off for either his home or his confusion at our “city sprints”. The Col de Letrape was a bit over 5km and moderately steep with a good rhythm. By this time the sun begun to burn through the clouds opening up the views of the valley and mountains above. We were soon over the top of the col and raced down into the down of Aulus for a quick snack and to fill out water bottled with the town's local water know for its healing powers.

Dan had warned us that the Col d'Agnes started quickly. He wasn't kidding. For the next 4km we churned our pedal over to climb the unrelenting grade and we hit the first set of switchbacks that broke up the climb to more manageable grades. We went over the top at 1570m and headed straight down for lunch above lake Et de Lers. We enjoyed omeletes and quiche at this idealistic lunch spot.

We got back on the bikes with heavy legs and full stomach to ride the next 30km down into Foix.

Even though the distance and vertical were less than other days we all seemed to agree that this was the hardest day.

We are now in the town of Foix which was the seat of the counts of Foix who were associated with the Cathar faith which many have learned about reading The Divinci Code.

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Day 9--I'm calling it 6 Cols

Day 9 was a huge climbing day. We left our ultra plus hotel in Gisset and headed out to a supposed 4 Col day, but by the end of the day we went up and over 6 distinct passes so it's a 6 col day in my book.

I think the highlight was seeing Casertelli's monument where he had an untimely death racing for the Motorola team.





GPS

Day 10

OK, here we go with a review of day 10. We climbed the route the Tour took this year as it left St. Giron. All of us are constantly amazed at the way Tom whips out the Visa to buy a new bike, purchase table dances or expensive wine---maybe the last two go together. What a guy !
Anyway a great ride today about 5 hours worth, 80 miles and 8,000 ft of climbing. This damn Ryan can spin up the hills with no effort--none at all. He is not winning the green jersey however, but that is due to old guy tactics. I think the overall review is that this is the best ever--and we are still moving into the mountains. In the morning we go to Foix and some hotter, dryer weather. Check back for a review from the boys, because it really does get better.

GPS