Fargo and Away

The day off was transformative for me. While I had definitely felt a shift in my fitness on the Tourmalet and Aspin, the time off the bike helped me consolidate those gains. My knee had proven stable and free of pain and that helped me silence the nagging doubts about my ability to push myself on the rides. I had caught up a bit on my sleep, too.

After two nights staying in the Hotel Nest de Jade in Vignec, Wednesday was moving day. On the itinerary for us was almost 8000 feet of climbing over 52 miles. The climbs were roughly equal, but the third one had some of the steepest sections. The weather was fantastic, however, and I was especially looking forward to the ride. The forecast for Thursday was for wet and cool weather, so I decided that I would go all out on the climbs in case the next (and last) ride was washed out.

Our destination was Saint-Bertrand-de-Cominges, with a hotel next to a historical cathedral.

We took our group picture and rode out of town as a group.

The first climb, the Col de Val Louron-Azet, began almost before we had warmed up. We would gain roughly 2500 feet in the first 7.4 miles.

From the start, I felt very comfortable on the bike, in a way I don’t recall feeling on any previous ride. My legs felt strong, my cadence relaxed, and my breathing relatively controlled. I usually struggle to stay with Ken and Grahame on climbs, but was able to keep contact with them at the beginning, and gradually fell into a rhythm. Every time the climb got steeper I felt like they might pull away, so I would stand and up my cadence to pull back even.

Whether they were taking it easy on me I cannot say. It was definitely not easy for me to keep pace. We mostly rode in silence, just the sound of the pedals, wheels, and our breathing keeping time. With very few cars on the road, it was as close to Zen as I’ve been on a bike. We still had to look out for the occasional cyclist or car coming down hill, but otherwise, we had the road to ourselves. We reached the first Col in just under an hour, and I felt great.

It was warm and sunny, and we were greeted again with epic views. For additional excitement, a helicopter flew right over us as it came in for a landing on a nearby hill. Two parasails drifted in the distance.

Within about 15 minutes of Ken, Grahame, and me finishing, everyone had made it to the top. We rested a bit, scouted out the next Col we would climb, which was visible across the valley.

I was so glad that Hal and Toffer joined the trip this year as first-timers, following Ken and me as first-timers last year.

Hal is a fantastic photographer/ videographer who captures action shots like no one else can (or dares to). Hal is also a radiologist who gave me a second opinion on my knee MRI before we left for the Pyrenees and assured me that despite scary sounding language like “subchondral fracture and edema” and “full-thickness cartilage loss throughout the lateral patellar facet” my knee was really not all that bad. I chose to believe Hal, and so far it has been working out. (Hal is also this blog’s superfan!)

The ride down the back side of the Col was quick, and we only had to slow down once for a small herd of cows rooting around in a trash bin by the side of the road. At one point, it looked like one of the cows was about to walk in front of us, but fortunately, she changed her mind.

At the regroup at the bottom, we spotted one of the parasails still high up near the peak.

As I began the next climb, I found myself riding alone for a bit. I had taken off a bit prematurely, but since I was in a rhythm, I kept going.

At one point I was passed by a Catepillar tractor as it lumbered uphill.

Shortly after being passed by the tractor, I caught up with Toffer, but we were then delayed by a line of cattle trucks for a few minutes. Annoyed with all the heavy machinery, once a window opened up, I took off up the mountain, again alone.

Eventually, I caught up with Rich, who was having a great ride himself. We continued on together up to the second Col,

The Col de Peyresourde lies on the Transpyrenees cycling route that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea. Ken also alerted us to its other key distinction: there is a delightful, family-run creperie at the top. This ranked for me as the best surprise of the whole trip. I cannot say no to a sugar and lemon crepe. We stopped in for a couple dozen.

With our bellies full, we again descended to make our way to our third Col of the day. Along the way, we found more TdF bike sculptures, charming towns, and livestock.

Our third climb was to Port de Balès, a climb with a few steep portions that made it the toughest of the three climbs of the day. I again found myself with Ken and just held on for dear life. It had gotten warmer and I was a bit overdressed, but we did find a bit of shade along the way. Ken and I pushed each other all the way to the top, and even sprinted for the line. It occurred to me that just a few years ago, I thought people who sought out difficult climbs on their bike were odd, and those that enjoyed it were crazy. I kinda got it for the first time on this climb. It was the best riding moment for me of the week.

I took a moment for myself. I felt like a very different cyclist than the one who began the trip.

The rest of the group hit the summit just as we were being told that there was a road race planned for that afternoon, and that we only had about 20 minutes to get down the mountain before they closed the road.

With no time to lose, we hurried down into the valley. We passed a few exotic cars on the way getting ready for the road race.

With our climbs done, we made our way to the next hotel. We were a bit surprised to see that it was next to a cathedral on a hill.

A few of us showered up quickly to get to the cathedral before it closed for the evening. It was worth hurrying.

After the cathedral, we sat in the sun over some beers. Tomorrow rain was forecast, which caused a bit of angst as we thought about our last ride of the week, but for the moment, all was right.

Dinner at our hotel was delicious, with creative dishes whipped up by the self-taught co-owner of the inn.

After dinner, we took an evening stroll through the gorgeous hilltop town.

Content, we headed to sleep to prepare for whatever was to come on our last day of riding.