Day 6 - Bagneres du Luchon, France to St. Remy de Provence

Every day after we have breakfast we try to put in some local sightseeing and short walk. Bagneres du Luchon is full of reminders of the Tour as it probably survives as a town because of it.

When we left we did not know where we would stop for the evening. Certain days we book hotels well in advance but in others we "let the wind carry us". We knew we would be sleeping somewhere in Provence so we chose the city of Montpellier, France and put it in GPS and chose the "Avoid Main Roads" option. The GPS would choose the route ... And what a great job it did.

Today we did the best roads for motorcycle riding yet. The D3 between Ciadoux, France and Rieumes, France has so many curves my right hand was hurting at Rieumes from so much braking and acceleration.

We stopped at Rieumes for lunch. After some bargaining as lunch time had past already we were able to be served and learned that the town was having the yearly festivities. On the way out we came across a bicycle race and it felt great to just follow them and see how the racing tactics of the various cyclists close by.

After Rieumes as we were taking too much time on the back roads we took the highway, put as destination Montpellier, France dialed speed limit (130 Km/h or 80+ miles/h) and enjoyed the straight and very well kept road. The highway system we use most of the time in France is the Autoroute system which consists largely of toll roads, except around large cities and in parts of the north. It is a network of 12,000 km (7,500 mi) worth of motorways. Tolls are either based on a flat-rate for access to the road or on the distance driven. The latter case is the most common for long distances; users take a ticket from an automatic machine when they enter the autoroute, and pay according to the distance when exiting; toll booths accept debit cards, credit cards, as well as cash. We used credit card and system works very well.

We were on the A61, went past Carcassone, France and went towards Narbonne, France where we would join the A9 through Beziers, France and towards Montpellier, France. And as we were nearing Narbonne the wind picked up a lot and we would ride most of the rest of the day with strong side winds that came from the mountain (our left) towards the sea (on our right). I was very happy with being loaded up as bike was solid as a rock. We, however, had to tuck behind windshield and be very close together ;-) to minimize movement on top of bike.

As we were arriving in Montpellier we got a traffic jam just before the toll booths :-(. After the toll booths the traffic jam continued and I was happy we were in France as we could just bypass the cars. This is not a practice Paula approves of but between being stuck in traffic jams is not my idea of fun so after some in helmet discussion we bypassed it.

After Montpellier we got off the main highway and took a smaller road towards the National Park of Camargue. With an area of over 930 km2 (360 sq mi), the Camargue is western Europe's largest river delta. It is a vast plain comprising large brine lagoons or étangs, cut off from the sea by sandbars and encircled by reed-covered marshes. These are in turn surrounded by a large cultivated area.

Approximately a third of the Camargue is either lakes or marshland. The central area around the shoreline of the Étang de Vaccarès has been protected as a regional park since 1927, in recognition of its great importance as a haven for wild birds. In 2008 it was incorporated into the larger Parc naturel régional de Camargue. It is home to more than 400 species of birds; its brine ponds provide one of the few European habitats for the greater flamingo. The marshes are also a prime habitat for many species of insects, notably (and notoriously) some of the most ferocious mosquitos to be found anywhere in France. It is also famous for the Camargue Bull and the Camargue Horse.

Although we had read that Arles, France is very nice and it was a possibility we would stay here for the night, we did not like this town and after a quick tour by motorbike through it we went north towards St. Remy de Provence. We also noticed that Arles was a town with not many artists as the Bistrot des Artistes was empty ;-).

The route to St. Remy is very beautiful as for about 10Kms the road has beautiful planted trees on both sides of the road. It was very nice to ride it as the sun was coming down.

When we arrived in St. Remy we did our usual quick tour to "check" the place out and we liked the feeling. It is difficult to explain but usually we look for how busy is city centre, do restaurants have outside seating and how busy are they, are there people walking in the streets, age groups, noise and confusion level. It of course helps if there are mountains or some type of water near by.

St. Remy is a small town with a city centre that had restaurants quite full. There were people walking around, light on the road was good. Age group was similar to ours (or at least enough of ours). Quiet enough town with not a lot of confusion.

We also checked the hotel we liked. We are mainly staying in 3-star hotels (100-150E) but now and then we go to 4-stars if they have the right offers. In this case we chose a 3-star and we took the last room. They had parking for bike which is always a plus and after taking luggage to room we went for dinner.

We chose a typical French creperie as we did not want to eat a lot as we had had a good lunch. Salad and crepes for the evening were great and then we finished the day by walking the streets of St. Remy in the evening and see where Nostradamus lived and also Van Gogh.

It was another lovely and full day and we were ready to sleep. That night we felt very safe as hotel was full of saintly pictures ;-).

We were looking forward to receive though the air we breathed some artistic genes.

Click HERE for all the pictures of Day 6

 

Posted by Armando

Day 5 - Biarritz, France to Bagneres du Luchon, France

What a day ... Stage 16 of the Tour de France of 2012. 4 Cols: Aubisque, Tourmalet, Aspin and Peyresourde.

Every day is different and special but this one was a bit more special. When I started planning this tour through Europe I had been so intrigued by Stage 16 of this years Tour that I told myself I needed to do it. It was a monster of a stage 197 Kms long, 4 big Cols (2 category hors-categorie (out of category) or so difficult they cannot be measured and two category 1 mountains). Thomas Voeckler from France won the stage in 5 hours and 20 minutes and took the polka dot (king of the mountain) jersey that he would wear until Paris.

We actually started the day from Biarritz (rather than Pau) which is about 120 Kms from Pau. We arrived at Pau at 2:15pm and left to follow the exact stage route at 2:30pm. We arrived at Bagneres just after 8:30 that evening which means it took us about 6 hours to do the stage. We did stop for lunch and stepped off the bike in some places to take pictures but it still shows how fast these guys do these stages. Going downhill we rarely went past 40 Km/h and it is beyond me how they are able to do speeds nearly at 100 Km/h.

As it is quite topic these days with the Amstrong affair one of the questions I was trying to answer is whether they take drugs or not. Are these mountains so difficult that someone will need to take extra boosters to make it ? I have had a theory about cycling and drugs for a long time and this would be an opportunity to check it out.

My theory is that every cyclist at this professional level takes some type of drugs. Having done cycling for many years and knowing how difficult this sport is, the only explanation I have had on how they are able to put their bodies through 3 weeks of pure hell and achieve the times they achieve is by taking something extra.

This theory in no way affects my love for the sport. I still love seeing the Tour, the Vuelta, the Giro and all the Classics. I still believe Amstrong was the best of his era and probably the best ever. But just like, American Football, Baseball, Athletics and a number of other sports I believe they use drugs that are much more advanced than technology is able to detect.

Tyler Hamilton (former Profesional cyclist) has just published a book called Secret Race in which he says:

"The tests are easy to beat," he writes. "We're way, way ahead of the tests. They've got their doctors, and we've got ours, and ours are better. Better paid, for sure. Besides, the UCI doesn't want to catch certain guys anyway. Why would they? It'd cost them money.

After riding Stage 16, I am even more sure ...

The Stage 16 was ridden West to East and first Col would be Aubisque. We rode to Laruns which is a town at the base of the mountain. The way from Pau is beautiful wining roads with green all around and the large mountains at the distance. I called "sing in your helmet" riding.

The Col d'Aubisque (1,709m) is rated an hors catégorie climb. From Laruns, the Aubisque is 16.6 km. and rises 1,190m, an average of 7.2%.

Writing in Vélo, Gilbert Duclos-Lassalle said:

"The Aubisque is one of those hors catégorie cols that make the legend of the Tour. The climb is in three parts. The first is fairly easy. The road is good and the specialists use 39 × 19 or 53 × 21. Then, at Eaux-Bonnes, you turn left and get to the real climb. This part, as far as Gourette, is a lot more difficult. The hardest part swings between eight and ten per cent from the seventh kilometre until Pont-du-Goua at the ninth kilometre and you need 39 × 21. Then, after 300m of flat in Gourette, a hairpin goes up to the Hôtel des Crêtes Blanches. Riders use 39 × 17 over four kilometres before going into 39 × 16 in the last two kilometres."

We found the climb quite technical and we did it carefully as it was the first of the day and wanted to see how biked fared with all the extra weight. As there is no protection full attention is required.

The descend goes through the Col du Soulor (1,474m) and the view is particularly beautiful with roads that seem to be "legoed" onto the mountain.

We then stopped at Luz-Saint-Sauveur on the base of the Tourmalet for lunch. We just loved these small picturesque towns In the middle of this route. As we would say many times during our trip in France, "God has specially blessed the French with a beautiful country".

As it had taken quite long our trip so far and we were worried we would no make it, we got back on the bike and started the climb of the Tourmalet.

The Col du Tourmalet (2,115 m / 6,939 ft) is the highest road in the central Pyrenees in the department of Hautes-Pyrénées in France. The climb from Luz-Saint-Sauveur, is 19 km long, climbing 1,404 m at an average of 7.4% with a maximum of 10.2% near the summit.

The Col du Tourmalet is one of the most famous climbs on the Tour de France. It has been included more than any other pass, starting in 1910, when the Pyrenees were introduced. As of the 2012 edition of the tour, the summit has been crossed 77 times in the tour's history. Since 1980 it has been ranked hors catégorie, or exceptional. The Vuelta a España has also crossed the pass several times.

I loved the Toumalet. Of the 4 climbs that we did on this day it was by far one that I best identified the Tour with. The last 3Kms are amazing with fantastic views, diificilt gradients and the arrival at the summit is spectacular.

We took many pictures and would have stayed there longer but time called. It was also very cold (below 50F).

We came down past La Mongie (well known ski resort) to Sainte-Marie-de-Campan and started the climb up the Col d'Aspin which is12.8 km. long, gaining 642 m. in height, at an average of 5%. By comparison with its neighbour, the Col du Tourmalet, this is considered an "easy" climb with only the last 5 kilometers, at about 8%, being difficult. The pass has been part of the Tour de France 66 times, largely because it is the middle link in a chain.

 

The views from the summit are very beautiful.

 

 

The final climb of the day was the Col de Peyresourde (1,569m). Starting from Armenteule (west), the climb is 8.3 km long. Over this distance, the climb is 629 m. (an average of 7.6%). The Col de Peyresourde was first used in the Tour de France in 1910 and has appeared frequently since. The col was crossed twice in the 2012 Tour de France, firstly on Stage 16 from Pau to Bagnères-de-Luchon, when it was ranked a Category 1 climb, and again on the following day, when it was unranked, with the stage continuing on to the ski station at nearby Peyragudes.

By the time we got to Bagneres du Luchon the sun had set and we were ready for a relaxing evening. We stayed in and had dinner at restaurant in hotel.

What a day ...

 

Click HERE for all the pictures of Day 5

 

Posted by Armando