The tour begins. We met up with our guides, Joe and Aron, and our fellow cyclist Darryl from Australia to start the trip. Took the van from Pau to Arudy, where we began our ride. The countryside is beautiful - right out of central casting. Beautiful mountains, quaint villages, lush greenery.
The object of today was to climb the Col de Marie Blanque. It is a relatively short climb, only 9 km to the summit, but the last 4 km are 11%, 10%, 13% and 12%. Really a grind. But the climb went well, we were happy to get to the top and everyone felt good about the ride. We had a nice descent, overlooking some gorgeous valleys back to Arudy. A celebratory beer at a local outdoor cafe was in order.
Tomorrow we do a 135 km ride, with no cols of major significance. The scenery should be gorgeous and the weather is forecast to be beautiful.
More later.
1 comment:
K&G - glad to hear the bikes (and you) got there okay and the guides were there to meet you! Soft first day at 9km! J'espere que tes culs sont bien apres 135km aujourd'hui!
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