Backpacking the pyrenees!

As soon as I returned from the U.K and the one afternoon I stayed in Paris with Stephanie, I briefly planned a trip to backpack the pyrenees.  I figured that if I lived in southern France I had better go and ride some of the amazing climbs that are just a little ways further than my back yard.  I saw that my belarussian teammate had received the route maps of all the Tour de France stages and I studied the start and finishing towns.  I  looked into stage 14 that started in Limoux and ended in Foix.  I booked my first night at a bed and breakfast in Limoux and I planned a route that went into some of the big climbs east of Revel that I had ridden briefly but not too much.  Then I would head south to Limoux where I could do the stage of the Tour de France the next day.  That’s about as far as I had planned when I left the house.  I packed my backpack with a box of cliff shots, cliff bars, some caramel coated peanuts, some gels, a raincoat, one outfit of clothes and extra socks.  No shoes, but I added my crocs so I didn’t have to walk around in cleats.  I debated taking my computer to book the next bed and breakfasts but I figured my phone could do just about everything even if it took a little extra time… I had plenty of that.

The first day of riding ended up being a lot longer than I had anticipated.  The climbs east of Revel were much longer and harder than I thought and when I finally hit the town I was to head south from I was 5 hours into the ride.  Then I had wind in my face the whole way down to Limoux.  I ended up with over 100 miles and 6 1/2 hrs of major yet welcomed sun burn!  It was a perfect day to start my journey through the pyrenees.  I reached the town of Limoux and rode around asking for the road that the bed and breakfast was supposed to be on. It was right over some train tracks and I found it without too much difficulty.  I showered, washed my kit and put it out to dry and went walking into the city for some food.  Usually when the team is on the road, we have meals planned from our soigner or directors so that it is enough food for the riders and we don’t have to pick something expensive on the menu or something we don’t like/know what it is, etc.  So this trip was to be an interesting experience ordering from menus that I couldn’t fully comprehend.  The first night I ate in the village square of Limoux and watched a speech on TV that was going on in Toulouse for the change in presidency that was occurring in the country.  Something I probably wouldn’t have even known about had I stayed at the house. I ended up at a pizza shop as I have found while traveling in France that Pizzerias are a pretty safe bet for taste and budget.

The second day I rode stage 14 of the tour de France, 192km, plus finding my bed and breakfast which called for the day to be slightly over 200km of riding.  Another ride just short of 7 hours.  I went over the col de portel, through Lavelanet, Terrascon, vicdessos, and up Port des lers and onto Mur de Peguere.  The last two climbs I would hope are HC climbs.  The Mur De peguere is a climb you turn off onto and its 3-4 kilometers at 12-13 % average.  At the point in time of the stage that you hit that, it really should be very painful and it will make it interesting to watch on television having ridden it.

The third day of my trip I stayed in Foix and explored the Chateau and got some errands accomplished around the city.  I probably walked about 10 km as where I was staying was a little outside of town.  I really enjoyed visiting the castle and I was really disappointed that I hadn’t visited the famous Dover Castle when I was in the U.K the week before with Stephanie.  It’s certainly on the agenda for the next time I visit my granny.  While I spent my day walking around Foix I also had to decide what I was going to do for the next several days.  I still had a lot of the pyrenees to see and so I wanted to continue heading west and see the Tourmalet, amongst all the other famous Pyrenean climbs.  I booked another bed and breakfast in Bagneres de Luchon and planned the route from Foix.  I would travel over the col de Portet D’Aspet and the Col des Ares.

The beginning of the day started out fairly miserable as the weather was not very pleasant.  I was rained on for the first half of the ride but that was ok as the climbs came in the second half of the day and I went over both with no problem.  I used Jeremy Power’s Velobeats to push myself going up the Col des Ares.  The music put me right at home and I got into a nice rhythm.  I found out after my ride that the Portet D’Aspet was where Fabio Casartelli died in the Tour de France in the early 90’s.  They have a nice big memorial up on the climb for him but I missed it as I descended the route of the monument.  I believe this day concluded with only about 140km of riding, under 5 hours on the bike for a change.  I was actually quite pleased as I knew going over all the famous climbs tomorrow I would be hurting at the end regardless.

I used the short day to look at maps for the following day and find out the routes I needed to take for Col de Peyresourde, Col D’Aspin, and the Col du Tourmalet.  I then headed into town for an amazing pizza.  This time I had ham/bacon (lardon), potatoes, onions, reblochon cheese (the famous cheese to the region where I was just at in Annecy, France) and a cream sauce.  It’s what they call Tartiflette pizza. It was SO good and I was so stoked on the carb loaded pizza that I ended up going back the next day for the same thing!

The next morning within 5 minutes of departing I hit the Col de Peyresourde, from the luchon direction I believe it was a 14 km ascent.  I summited and bombed straight down the descent, I wanted to get as far along as possible as quickly as I could because I knew I’d be suffering the way back.  I was hoping I would hit the top of the Tourmalet in 3 hours so I could make it back in less time and have a ton of climbing under 6 hours.  My plan was definitely wishful thinking as when I summited Col D’Aspin and headed for the Tourmalet I was already 2 1/2 hours in.  It was almost 4 hours when I finally got to the top of the Tourmalet (actually I was not able to summit although I climbed and hiked a few snowpacked sections just to see if I could make it, I eventually had to turn around about 1 km from the top).  I ate a quick lunch at la Mongie, the ski station that’s 4 km from the summit of the Tourmalet. I let my lunch digest while descending the Tourmalet.  I murdered myself over the Col D’Aspin and recouped once again with a coke and a snickers bar in Arreu.  Just what I needed to last me about 3/4 of the way up the reverse Col de Peyresourde and I crawled to the top so I could make it back into town. I ended the ride under 6 1/2 hours and completed almost 15,000 ft of climbing.

I got home and showered and decided to walk into town instead of riding because it’s always a pain to go into a restaurant and have to worry about someone stealing your bike.  This was a poor decision because after the ride I was completely wrecked and the walk was about 2.5 km just to get to town.  So almost 45 minutes of walking for me as my girlfriend always says I am the worlds slowest walker. I enjoyed my new favorite and very well earned Tartiflette pizza and on the way back to the B&B I grabbed a ticket for the local vaporium baths as I was told they would be good to experience as one of the famous local attractions.  I went there the following morning to relax a little before my train ride home to Toulouse in the afternoon.

The trip was truley an amazing experience and I certainly have no regrets, only great times and stunning views that will stick in my head for the rest of my life.  I feel lucky to have been able to ride so many of the Tour’s famous climbs, but a little let down when I returned home to find out the terrible news that I wouldn’t be racing in the upcoming race,  the Olympias Tour.  I was really hoping I’d be racing as I know I am in great shape after doing this trip of training and then have a good race before heading back to the states for U.S pro nationals.  However, now I’m just headed back to the U.S for U.S pro nationals and still confident that my training will bring me some results. Not racing has made me even more hungry for something good.

some signs in Limoux for the visit of the Tour de France

Some nice tan lines from the first day and wearing my road ID(stupid useless wristband that creates bad tan lines!).

when your road is part of the tour de france, I guess they just do away with speed limits and just tell the public this road is being used for the Tour!

They get really close! just chillin

another sign for the tour de france

up the Tourmalet

Col d’Aspin

Tartiflette Pizza!

My bike on the train ride home.

castle from the town of Foix

UPDATE

Its been a long time since my last blog and I apologize for not having kept you informed of my life over in France.  Here is a recap of my recent adventures.  

I was scheduled to race the Loir et Cher race, but instead got called up last minute to do a race in the Ardennes.  I raced well and helped pull back several breaks throughout the stages.  Did my fair share of work in the team time trial.  I thought things were going well and I was to be gaining my form heading into Loir et Cher.   Unfortunately I wasn’t allowed to race Loir et Cher and I was told to fly home.  So I flew back to toulouse and got in touch with my girlfriend to see if she would be able to change her flight to come visit earlier. She pulled some strings and arrived five days earlier than she originally had planned. I got a rental car in Toulouse and drove to get her in Paris.  It was nice having her back as Co-pilot to help us navigate our way around Europe.  Sometime it’s not easy to live around here not speaking the language or having a clue what is going on.

From Paris we made our way to Annecy, France. A mid evil town in the French Alps around the cleanest lake in europe. The water is so clear and turquoise you have a hard time believing it is real and not a painting or paradise. I got to ride some of the climbs that have been part of the Tour de France. I could even still see the painted names on the road, “Schleck! Sastre! moreau. SAXO!” This was on the Cole de la Forclaz. Other climbs I road were the Semnoz, Col de la Croix Fry,  col des aravis Col de Marie. All were beautiful and you can look for photos at the end of the blog. Although I would prefer to be racing more I cant help but to be grateful to experience riding up some of the best climbs in the world. Not to mention that after each ride Stephanie would have been to the markets to gather some fresh ingredients and have a delicious meal prepared and waiting for the both of us. 

Where we were staying was a short walking distance to the old village and city center that the locals and others refer to as the Venice of France only better. They have what I heard was one of the best open air markets in France and from what we saw of them I would not disagree. 

One of the days in Annecy we drove to Chamonix were one can see Mont Blanc, on a clear day that is. Unfortunately for us there was not much of a view to see the top of mont blanc. The highest peak in Europe. We did get to see some beautiful mountains regardless and rode the gondola to the top of Mont Chamonix

After our very pleasant stay in Annecy we were back in the rental car again and off to the Uk. However Stephanie insisted that we make a pit stop in Paris. We started our Paris day at Stephanie’s favorite museum, Rodin Museum. At first I thought it was a load of crappy sculptures, but as I read and looked a little harder I started to appreciate the depth of Rodin’s sculpting. After we walked by Invalide and on to view and take pictures in front of the Eiffel tower of course. Stephanie used her reverse psychology on some asian family by asking them if they would like for her to take photos for them. In return she knew they would offer to take photos for us. Clever girl. After our photo shoot, we had a long walk to the Arc de Triomphe where I was allowed to go up for no cost as I have a British Passport and dual citizenship (all U25 citizens of the european union are allowed up for free).  Although viewing the champs elyses is not something I want to be doing in France while I’m not racing,  it’s always cool to see a city from above and seeing the champs elyses from the arc de Triomphe is quite an experience.  

we then used the subway, walked around the front of the Louvre and headed to Notre Dame. Then we sought out the Aux 3 Elephant. A thai restaurant that Stephanie read online about that was really good. We returned to our hotel to get a good nights sleep for the drive to Calais. 

We had some bumps en route involving our cards being blocked by the bank. We sorted that out and caught Stephanie’s first ferry over the English Chanel to Dover. My granny, whom I haven’t seen I think in over six years lives just 20 minutes from the Dover ferry port. Regardless of not being there for a long time I found our way to Granny’s Thatch Cottage effortlessly. 

Our week at granny’s consisted of a lot of rain; riding in the rain, site seeing in the rain, walking with granny and Hunny (my grandmas awesome dog) in the rain, watching it rain… You get the point! It rained. We also did a lot of sitting with granny by the fire while chatting and watching the tele. One highlight of England was the change from the french breakfast of cold bread, butter, and cereal, to eating a hot english breakfast of sausage, bacon, beans, toast, and fresh eggs from Granny’s chickens!

But most of all I was just happy to introduce Stephanie to my grandma as well as spend some time with her. She is a pretty cool lady and always quick to laugh. Something about grandma that makes you feel unconditionally loved welcome and right at home.

My father knew I was in England and was adamant about me meeting up with his old cycling club, The Thanet Road Club. I was very welcomed by them and they invited me to do a training race with some of there local riders as well as do a meet and greet with there children riders! This was so cool. The little kids were all so amazing and had so many great questions. After the meet and greet the children had a practice ride on a closed course that I volunteered to help with. It was raining sideways, but the kids still road there hearts out! There were kids from 4 to 16. The younger ones did practice drills of exchanging water bottles, riding extremely close next to one another and the basic of a paceline. It was inspiring and heart warming to say the least. I felt lucky to be there and to give back to the sport at its very roots. I got to ride around and chat with some of the older racers after the training race. Several of them have great talent and I hope they all keep racing and going for there dreams. Thank you Thanet Road Club for providing such great opportunities and support for riders young and old. 

After the week in the U.K, me and stephanie had to say our goodbyes, I headed back to the Toulouse house and she returned to Paris to have a week of touring with her friend from the U.S.A.    I’ve have since backpacked around some of the pyrenees staying at bed and breakfasts by myself.  The next blog is soon to come about my adventures to the cols of the Tour de France.  

Annecy France, apparently the most taken photograph site in all of europe.

flower shop in the hidden streets of downtown Annecy

Found the newspaper store that sponsors the big race before the Tour de France!

Col de la Forclaz is an extremely cool climb. Gets super steep near the end. I believe it has been used in the Tour de France.

another popular climb around Annecy

near the top of the semnoz

there was a functioning ski lift at the top of this one!

one of Ronin’s cool sculptures

where my Grandma lives and my dad grew up “Thatch Cottage”

an old photo of my dada in his racing days.

Walking with my grandma and the dog “HUNNY!”

Always wanted to go back here when I was a kid. They had a really cool tidal wave pool. I thought it was the coolest thing on earth!

helping out the Thanet Road Club.

Hautacam

I was thinking on Friday that this weekend would be a good time to plan a day trip to the Pyrenees. We’re not quite close enough to ride from the team house to really be able to get to go up some of the famous climbs. So I asked to borrow the team car and tried organizing a group to go but most of the team had to stay and do team time trial practice for the upcoming Circuit des Ardennes. I got permission to take the car Saturday morning and left a little later in the day than I would have liked. The only teammate to tag along with me was Mike Midlarsky. We arrived in the town of Lourdes around 12:30 and saw a neat indoor market that we had to check out. So we parked the car in a nearby lot and checked out all of the amazing fresh pastries, bread, seafood, meat, clothing, and the outdoors… etc. We could have spent all day there, but realized we had to get going to have enough time for a good ride. I will have to come back another day to spend more time in the market.

We went back to the car, kitted up and were just about to leave when we noticed my tire had a bulge in it and was about to explode. I quickly let some air out. We then began to ask people who could tell us where the closest bike shop would be considering how non-existent mine and Mike’s French is you can see this was no easy task… and this is where the story really begins.

The first guy we tracked down seemed to be extremely nice and friendly and really wanted to help us out, the problem was he just didn’t speak very good English.  He called “his friend” who spoke English to try and communicate with us where the bike shop was located.  The man on the phone said, “yes, I will fix your tire”. Since we needed the directions and we did not understand this man well we allowed him to drive with us to the bike shop.  Of course when we arrived at the shop there was no one there and it was closed for the French lunch hour… or hours I should say. So he called “his friend” again to find out when he would be back.  He said, “The shop closed until 2.” As we were waiting for the shop to reopen the man was telling us he was a chef and that we should stay with him.  We didn’t have plans to stay at all because we needed to be back at the team house that same evening, but he seemed just like a nice guy wanting to help out cyclists looking for a bike shop and that he just wanted to help bike racers make their way around Europe.  Eventually the man who owned the shop re opened and I got my tire fixed and we were ready to hit the road.

We asked our helper if we would like for us to give him a ride back to where we had met by the market or to his house. I said I would bring him back while Mike waited with the bikes. Then I would return from dropping off “the man” and we would just leave our car at the bike shop and be on our jolly way up some mountain in the Pyrenees. For some reason when I mentioned this plan “our helper” got extremely upset all of a sudden and wanted us to drive with him to some nearby town instead.  He said it would be better for riding from there.  Mike and I didn’t feel inclined to agree and chose to stick to our plan.  So I dropped my stranger off where I found him. Awkward I might add. When I arrived back at the bike shop, the bike shop owners had informed us to check our pockets because the man who was “helping us” seemed to be a pocket picker! Of course we both felt a little naïve as things didn’t quit add up right with “our helper,” but fortunately neither mike nor I had lost our wallets or anything else valuble!

Around 3 in the afternoon we finally were about to start our ride when cycling enthusiasts started showing up in Garmin kits on their bikes.  I think they must have seen the car and came looking to see what was going on and if they could ride with us.  Next thing we knew we had a mini peloton worth of guys trying to ride with us and trying to show us which climbs they thought we should go up.  The climb we ended up on was the Hautacam, one of the famous climbs ridden in the Tour de France! It gains almost 4,000 ft in about 12-13 kilometers!!  The climb does not disappoint in any way.  It deserves to be in the Tour de France for sure and as soon as you ride it you realize that.  We rode to the top and back down.  Then we rode around the bike path and some nearby short climbs that we did efforts on.

We eventually got a decent ride put in and were riding back to the car when a man drove by and pulled over in his car. He pulled off to the side of the road. We were both a little nervous after our morning experience with strangers, but it turns out it was one of the guys that we rode with out to the climb.  He was just coming back in his car towards the bike shop to find us because he wanted to know how the rest of our ride had gone up to the Hautacam.  This stranger actually turned out to be the man we were first hoping to meet. He was very nice and told us stories of the Hautacam and the bike shop owner who just happened to race the Tour de France back in the day with Bernard Hinault!  His bike in the bike shop has number 2 still attached.  meaning he was the number 1 supporter to the famous Bernard Hinault during his Tour de France victories(see pic below).

Recently, I have taken a trip to Milan, Italy, where I did some research for the team in the wind tunnel as well as worked on my own TT position.  This was quite an opportunity and I can only hope that it helps in my efforts this year….time will tell.  Below are some pictures from the wind tunnel and Hautacam.  Next, I race Tour de “Loir et Cher” from April 11-15.  Then at some point I am returning to the U.S for Philly and up to Canada for the Tour de Beauce.

me, mike and hubert Arbes, the Tour de France Legend.

a trophy case of the legend, Hubert Arbes

Hubert Arbes Tour de France bike

at the top of Hautacam on a clear day!

mike climbing the Hautacam

the stage winners from the Tour

on the screen at the wind tunnel

some other stuff to get tested at the tunnel

at the wind tunnel

the crazy scientist dude that worked with us at the wind tunnel

crazy looking toilets in italy

gelato in Italy

Toulouse

Have finally had some time to relax at our home for the year in Toulouse, France.  I’ve been resting for most of the week doing easy rides after the intense races of the early season.  I’ve been trying to find out what my schedule looks like for the coming weeks but because we cannot race races that are not UCI sanctioned there is a limited number of races we are allowed to do over here.  Looks like my next race will be….Tour du Loir-et-Cher…. 

It is a 5 day stage race near the middle of france that should be another great opportunity.  In the meantime, I have a trip planned for this weekend and some more time to look around the beautiful city of Toulouse, as well as some good training, of course.

The other day I went into the city to watch Milan San Remo and took a walk around.  It is quite an interesting city….take a look at some photos…….

pictures of the city

bike rentals in the city

Walking in the city

bread at a local market

So many locals down by the water just hanging out! pretty cool.

Not as much littering but I think someone needs to collect the garbage.

this guy is screwed

very nice automobiles!

Gent Ieper

The race this sunday felt so much easier than a week ago.  Last week, I was hanging on for dear life and barely ever saw the front.  This week I was in the action, right from the first mile.  I followed several attacks over the first 60 km of the race and over the first flat cobbled sections.  I felt great and was ready to fly over the Kemmelberg.

Then we hit roads that were extremely narrow and I had a domino of bad fortune.  First, I was stuck just behind some sort of mix up on the first climb of the loops.  I chased for about 4-5 km and then rejoined the field.  I started moving up immediately and just as immediate, crashed into 3-4 others just in front of me.  There was no reason for it all, just some idiot causing a crash on a straight road for no reason and me getting caught behind it all.  I’m pretty good at finding my way just behind these sorts of events.

After the crash, I thought “shit….there’s the first turn of the race that I need to be at the front….and I was off the back!”  So naturally I was a little dissapointed that my race was going to be over, but I joined the caravan and started slowly making my way up towards the field.  I was about to make contact with the field, about 6 cars behind and the first car slammed on its breaks at the last second to help a rider.  Instantly, each car almost hit one another, and I switched over just in time not to crash into the car, but I shattered the tale-light of the car I was following. Hopefully, I don’t see the bill for that one like all my hospital bills in the U.S.

Anyways, I eventually made it back into the field just before we entered the climb before the Kemmelberg.  I tried to make my way up through as many people as I could and almost made the front split, but I just didn’t have enough to make into the front group.  I was in the Grupetto for the rest of the day, which still wasn’t easy! I did finish, but I guess just outside of when they stopped counting riders. Funny because one of the guys in my group actually attacked us and tried to finish ahead of our group for 125th place!

My team did an excellent job nonetheless. We had a few guys help lead out Steele for 2nd place on the day.  I hope to be up there in the action next time as it sucks coming in after the field and not having a clue what happened.

Today I’m headed back to Toulouse, France — our team home for the rest of the season. I’m excited to relax for a few days  in the sun! Got to heal up my back and hand that is quite sore from the incidents of yesterday, as well as my knee, which is a little sore still from the race on wednesday that was in the cold and rain. After that, some sort of intense training block probably before the next big team race. Not entirely sure what that might be yet, but hopefully, I’ll get to do some local races around Toulouse in the meantime.

Here’s a short recap:

Or for those wanting something more meaty:

Thanks to Motomediateam.be for posting the videos!

Belgium

I’ve been in Kroishoutem, Belgium for the past 9 days now.  I am enjoying the atmosphere of the most cycling enthusiastic country in the world.

Things are quite different from the USA but also different from where we are based down in Toulouse.  The weather here in Belgium is about 15 degrees Celsius colder from Toulouse and in a constant state of rain/clouds/rain/more clouds all the time.  The sun is hiding here! In Belgium its easy to get lost a lot. While riding you think to yourself, “oh just head to that pointy church over there… I think we past that on the way out.”  But every town ends up having the same pointy church and every town had the same looking round-a-bout and the same crazy obstacles on the road…

About those obstacles… that cause and wreak havoc for the peloton.  It is true that they created bike paths on just about all the roads in Belgium.  What they forgot though are that the roads are still usually the size of a large American sidewalk so the cyclists and the cars don’t really all fit. You have to weave in and out of cars and the cars don’t always park on the side of the road, but right in the middle!  There is a lane in which they park that is directly in between where we ride and the cars travel. This definitely keeps us on our toes.  And if that weren’t enough to make riding hectic don’t forgot all the cobbled sections scattered throughout the countries roads. Oh, and the big poles jotting up in random places…

Another negative aspect of Belgium is the smell.  There seem to be endless fields of manure everywhere. The only good smell that comes out of this country is from the food.   I’m thinking the waffle stands have to be pretty good but all I’ve seen is the waffles they sell in the supermarkets (a pretty damn good selection nonetheless).

Now to the racing, another aspect of things that are different over here compared to the U.S. are the races. They start faster, go faster, and finish faster. Period.  The race last Sunday was the first and then I did a professional kermesse on Wednesday.  I actually finished 34th out of 36 riders that finished.  200 riders started the race. So that was a good improvement for me from the first race at Lillers and also a good enough result to get me a spot in the race this coming Sunday.

Thursday after the kermesse we pre rode the course for this Sunday’s UCI  race. It is a difficult course that goes up the kemmelberg, a famous cobbled climb that is in Gent Wevelgem. We also did some motorpacing behind the team car and some efforts up the cobbled climbs of the course to get a good feel for what the race would be like.

Friday was a complete recovery day, just 1 hr easy on the bike to spin out the legs.  In the afternoon we attended the cycling museum where I took some cool pictures that are shown below.

Saturday was a chill 2 hr ride with some openers for the race on Sunday. My parents also made it to town! After my ride I had lunch and did some running around with them. They always have interesting funny ways of doing things, but all in all I am glad they support me in my cycling and am glad they get to watch me race tomorrow!

My dad beat this guy in a big race in Britain and now he is on the wall at the cycling hall of fame!

Stay tuned for an update early next week.

pre ride–click here