St. Jean Pied-de Port to Cette Eygun

Today was a great ride, but it really was super difficult.  We did 103.6 km, with 3,101 meters of total climb.   I don't think that I have ever experienced a more arduous ride!  The guides are telling us that today's ride was the most difficult of the entire trip.  I only hope and pray that this message is correct.

The first climb was Col de Burdincurucheta, and this really is just the lead in to Col d'Iraty.  Putting them together, this climb was 26 km long, with the average grade at 5%.  (The average was 5%, but there were sections of 13%!)  That was so draining for me.  We have climbs that steep in La Crosse certainly, but the length of this climb was just relentless!  I was utterly drained at the end.  The next climb, Col de Soudet, was 22 km long and similar elevation.  What was demoralizing was that I found even not-so-steep climbs on Col de Soudet were very difficult, probably due to my fatigue from the first climb. 

That said, the views made it all worth it.  This is a phenomenally beautiful part of the planet Earth!  Some of the views were literally breathtaking.  (Or, was I out of breath for some other reason?)

The weather was wonderful initially, with only a few clouds in the sky, comfortable temperature, and minimal wind.  Later this afternoon however, we ended up with a cold mountain rain.  (Ugh!)

The descents were tough for me, that probably due to my acrophobia.  In fairness to me though, most of the people on today's ride also commented upon the frightening descents.  There were generally no guardrails at the side of the road, with very frightening drop offs.  At the end of the day, that was made even more frightening by the wet road surface.

This ride today was probably the hardest thing that I have ever done physically.  Still, this really was great.  My legs are now like jelly.  Poor quality jelly, actually.  Hopefully they will be back with me by tomorrow morning!

Tomorrow we go to Saint Savin.  This will involve two big climbs, Col de Marie-Blanque and Col d'Aubisque.  There is a 99.8 km distance expected tomorrow, with 2, 775 meters of total climb.

St. Jean-de-Luz to St. Jean Pied-de-Port

Wow!  What a ride!  This was 76 km in total distance and 1704 meters in cumulative elevation.  We had three big climbs today.  The second one was Puerto de Otxondo.  That proved to be difficult.  It was at only 5 to 7.6% incline, not nearly as steep as what I have been using for training during the past few months, but it was 6.2 miles in duration.  Every time I rounded a curve, with the expectation that things would level out, the ensuing view just demonstrated an ongoing relentless climb.  That is nothing compared to what tomorrow and the next days will include. 

The weather temp was comfortable, but there were very gusty winds and intermittent rain.  On one of the long downhill runs, we had the combination of very wet road surfaces, gusty winds, no guardrails between the road and a long scary drop, and my acrophobia.  As can be appreciated, I was going at a nervous crawl during a whole lot of that.  (Then again, I hate downhills generally anyway, so that's nothing new probably!)

With the winds and also with the rain, I took few photos today.  That is not to deny that the ride was breathtakingly beautiful.  This really is a remarkable region of the world.  It really is a privilege to see this area.

We were in Spain probably 40% of the ride today.  I was generally aware of when we were in Spain, based upon the mileage that we had covered.  Sadly however, there was no "Welcome to Spain" sign that I ever encountered.  No photo opportunity with that.

Tomorrow we go to to Cette-Eygun, France.  This will be a 103.6 km ride, with 3101 meters elevation.  Wow!  The first climb is Col de Burdincurucheta.  That is a Category 1 climb.  The first 4 km of that climb are at 12.3%.

Still in St. Jean-de-Luz

Today is a low key day here, as was entirely expected.  My jet lag has been mild, at the most, mercifully enough.  As that further resolves, I am just mainly relaxing and getting ready for the trip to begin tomorrow.

At just before 3:00 PM today, the appointed time, I walked the 2 km over from my hotel here to the one where the Trek Travel guides are located.  That walk itself was a treat, as it afforded some elevations all of its own, all along the shoreline, giving me new and impressive views of the Atlantic.

The three guides are very friendly, helpful, and competent.  Stefano put my pedals and saddle on the bike.  I rode it for just a very short distance, and it feels great.  It really felt great to get back on a bike, even if it was only for a very short ride today.

I now have the papers which include the cue sheets for every day of the trip.  Tomorrow's ride will be a good one on which to get started, with shorter distance overall, and less demanding climbs.  We will do 76 km tomorrow, with three climbs.  Two, Col d'Otxondo and Col d'Ispeguy, will be moderate climbs.  The former is 10 km long, with an average elevation of 5 to 7.6%.  That will be a good warm up for the next day's more challenging climbs.  The first part of the ride tomorrow will actually be in Spain.  We will end up in France again in the latter part of the day.

Tomorrow's destination really interests me.  The town of St. Jean Pied-du-Port, at the base of the Roncevaux pass, is the capital city of the traditional Basque province.  It is also one of the commonly used starting off places for travelers going on the Camino de Santiago.  This will be fun to visit.

I have met many of the other folks who are going on the trip.  We introduced ourselves to each other in the parking lot of the Hotel la Reserve, as the bikes were getting set up and adjusted to us.  They all seem very friendly.  They also all exude an ambiance that suggests that they are very experienced and capable cyclists.  (Now, why would that be a surprise?)  We have all shared with each other our names, places of hometowns, etc., etc.  As all of us well understand, none of us will successfully be able to match names with faces for at least a few more days from now.

We are all ready and eager to get going tomorrow morning!

St Jean-de-Luz ---- I can't believe that I am actually here!

I really have trouble talking myself into believing that I really am actually here now in St. Jean-de-Luz.  I made the commitment to go on this Pyrenees bicycle trip almost a year ago, and I have been effectively constantly daydreaming about it ever since.  Now I really am on the threshold.  I am now in the little city on the southwestern coast of France that I have been looking at, on Google Maps, for so very long.

So far, things couldn't be going better.  By that statement I mean two separate things.  The first is that all is going every bit as had been planned, without even a hitch or a hiccup.  The second is that this first stop in St. Jean-de-Luz is even neater than I had anticipated.

In local time, it is now 8:30 PM here, this Monday evening.  (It is now 1:30 PM today in La Crosse.)  I must say however, this still feels to me like just one 24+ hour long Sunday.  It's very weird.  From the time Marsha and I left home in La Crosse, at 11:00 AM yesterday, until literally right now, it all just seems like one really, really long day.  In that regard, it is almost a bit frightening how not-tired I am feeling right now.

The flights were both smooth, both the one from Minneapolis to Paris (Charles de Gaulle) and the one from Paris (Orly) to Biarritz.  The flights were on time, the luggage made it, and going through customs was a breeze.  (Maybe the connection at the CDG airport with the bus to take me to Orly was a bit confusing, but all else was easy, quick and slick otherwise.) Landing in Biarritz, I took a taxi the extra 9 miles to St. Jean de Luz.  Getting to this destination town, I was pleased to see that even Expedia had not screwed up; my reservation at the hotel was all in order and waiting for me.

This is a cool little town!  I got here at just before 5 PM, and I have spent the past two hours just walking around.  This is a remarkably hilly little town, with one side on the Atlantic and the other in the western foothills of the Pyrenees.  This is the heart of Basque country.  Typical of Basque apparently, the houses are all small and all painted white, with colored shutters (usually red).  The roof tops are all identical also.  It is so hilly here that I bet that you can't find a distance of even five feet of road or sidewalk that is level.  It really is cool.

I walked the short distance from my hotel to the beach.  The waves tonight are enormous, almost frightening.  There are posted signs all over the beach, indicating that it is temporarily closed due to the dangerous currents and waves.  Just standing there and listening to the roar, it is very impressive.  (I shouldn't say this, but tonight's Atlantic wave show is even putting Lake Superior to shame!)

If you stand at the beach and turn 180 degrees, you are facing the western foothills of the Pyrenees.  To demonstrate that further, the first two of the three photos directly below were taken from literally the same location.  I just turned away from the ocean to take the one of the mountains.

Today is a bit overcast, so these peaks are effectively touching the clouds.  Thinking about the notion of cycling in that area, this view tonight is downright intimidating. 

Downright exciting!

We will see....

I will go to sleep soon, and I will try to sleep in tomorrow morning.  It is just a short 2 km walk from this hotel to Hotel la Reserve, the location where the Trek Travel guides and bikes are to be found.  I am to show up there tomorrow afternoon, anytime in between 3 and 6 PM, to get fitted to the bike that I will be using.  I can't wait!  I will walk over there tomorrow with my pedals, shoe, and saddle.  Hopefully I will meet some of the group participants tomorrow also, not just the Trek Travel guides.  I hope that Michelle has as much fun on her 26th birthday tomorrow as I have here.

The actual ride then will begin in the morning of the next day, Wednesday, September 16.

On the road again!!!

This blog post will include no meaningful content whatsoever.  If you are reading this now, you are surely wasting your time.  I am posting this mainly to verify to myself that this site is still operational, and that I still remember how to use it.  After now more than 5 years of blog silence, both of those hopes may well represent a remarkable stretch.

It is now Sunday afternoon, September 13, 2015.  I am sitting at gate G9 at the Minneapolis-St. Paul international airport, patiently awaiting my departure on Delta flight # 171.  With good luck, I will be ending up tomorrow, late afternoon to early evening, in St. Jean-de-Luz, France.  It will be there, on the next day, that I will meet up with the guides from Trek Travel, and get fitted to my new bike.  I will be on that bike for the next 9 days, starting on Wednesday, September 16, on my exciting trans-Pyrenees bike trip!

This is very exciting.  I can't wait!  I hope that I am ready.  We will see!

Burlington, Massachusetts to Boston, Massachusetts

Brattleboro, Vermont to Burlington, Massachusetts

Wow! Today really was hard!

Two really hard days in a row. Yesterday was really difficult, that due to the intense climbing and the associated humidity. Today was even more difficult. We did 91 miles today (96 miles, by my bike computer) and the elevations were even more challenging than they were yesterday.

Way back even before this trip actually began, I had looked carefully at the schedule and itinerary. I had noted that these last two days of the trip would probably be quite difficult. Based upon my understanding of the topography involved, I had expected that there would be very challenging elevations on both the Albany to Brattleboro and Brattleboro to Burlington days.

I see that I was correct.

Today we managed to cross two state lines, not just one! That is rather exciting.

We left Brattleboro this morning and continued east. In literally only 2.4 miles we were crossing the Connecticut River and entering into New Hampshire! That was neat for me. It is just a few months short of 40 years ago now that I first saw the Connecticut River, then when I was going to Hanover, New Hampshire, for the very first time. It was impressive to view that river again now, this time a bit further south than before. It is still an impressive waterway. Many memories are associated with the state of New Hampshire.

We were in New Hampshire for roughly 40 miles today, that almost all on route 119. This was a very difficult road on which to ride. The hills were shorter than those of yesterday, but far more steep. My legs were just about at their limit.

Soon after making it into Massachusetts, the hills continued but became far less impressive. That was merciful. We had a relatively non-strenuous ride into Burlington. Getting into the Burlington region however did pose problems with navigation. This is now again far more urban. The traffic is more challenging and the roads are quite confusing. Even following our detailed cue sheet as best possible, we became quite lost before finally getting into our destination.

Marsha arrived here now also. She was detained by bad weather and the airline's difficulties with that. Ulimately she did arrive. It was so great to see her. We had never been apart this long before. She has now met many of my companions of the past seven weeks. That means a lot to me. I am really glad that she is here.

It is difficult to put in words how well I feel now. I have effectively completed the task that I set out to do. I have ridden a bicycle across the entire United States, from Los Angeles to Boston. I was far from confident that I would be able to really do that, when I made the decision to try. Now I have difficulty believing that I have succeeded.

Tomorrow we have the last ride of the entire trip. Today's ride was the last real ride of the trip, as tomorrow's is just a short 18 mile ride to the beach only. Still, that will really be important. I already feel great, effectively now having completed this huge cross-country trip. Still, tomorrow's ride will be the final step. That needs to be accomplished.

I have a small vial of sand from the beach at the Pacific Ocean. I will take that with me on the bike tomorrow. It will be scattered at the Atlantic Ocean beach.