Coast to Coast Pyrenees

The time has come, and we are heading off to France for our holiday or is it crazy challenge!

We are cycling from east coast to west coast in 6 days. In total we will be covering 805km, with 17200 metres of climb.Taking in lots of Cols made famous by the Tour de France, and a few lesser known roads and cols.
I am certainly excited to return to the Pyrenees, having ridden there in 2005 and for the 2008 Etape Du Tour and Karen is really looking forward to it having never ridden in the Pyrenees before.
Our training has gone well, we think, but its hard to prepare for 6 full days without a rest day, unlike the Tour De France riders who usually only do 3 days of Mountain stages before a break. I will gloss over the fact they are racing for 3 weeks!

The forecast is good and very warm for the first few days, and we expect to be challenged and have to battle through feeling rough at some stage. Personally i am looking forward to tackling the Tourmalet again to see if third time lucky i can feel satisfied having conquered its slopes. But also visiting the lesser known Cols and there's a few testing ascents that Pyractif have found for our delight.

If you want to find out how we get on check back here from Sunday 22nd onwards to read about our trials and tribulations (Web access permitting).

We are going with the company Pyractif - http://www.pyractif.com/

High Moors, North Pennines

Our final hilly long ride before the trip to Pyrenees. We had been eyeing up a jaunt out to Teesdale for a few weeks and things had conspired against us on a number of occasions. Finally a window of opportunity arose when my parents visited for the weekend. They went off to Church on sunday am, leaving us a few hours to fill before meeting them for lunch and a walk.

Up early and on the road by 10am (after forgetting bike shoes! Doh), we headed north to tackle the middle section of the new High Moors Sportive - full ride on 19th Sept. Its certainly a challenge with climbing or descending the order of the day for most of the ride. A slightly easier section  from Edmundbyers to Blanchland. But the rest mixes some superb moorland climbs and fast (Max 70Kph) but not too technical descents to link the dales. 

We were blessed with a dry, almost breeze free day, and saw plenty of other cyclists enjoying the quiet roads and dodging the many lazing sheep!

We both were spinning nicely and knocking out a good pace ~ 14mph, until the last and toughest climb of Langdon Common. What a brute. A short sharp bank to start with then contour and drop slightly before hitting the main drag to the summit. It starts at 10%, and gradually increases upto 16, then 17 and 18 %, without much in the way of bends. Even with a 34x29 it was tough and we both fought the bikes to make it to the top gasping for breath. 

After a short respite to take in the stunning view down into Teesdale, we hit the descent of 10 miles back to Middleton and a much needed rest and refreshments.

Karen about to collapse at top of Langdon Common

We would certainly recommend the High Moors sportive as a tough end of season ride - you may even see us there.

Karen meets her match!

High Moors Training