John's Raid Pyrenees Adventure

First a word about Échappée, the name of our cycling tour company. Their name translates from the French as "escape," of which I can think of a few applications: as of or pertaining to a holiday, or any getaway from the routine; or "an escape in cycling is when a small group of riders breaks away from the main group of riders to gain an advantage. . . . Escapes can be planned or spontaneous, and often involve a mix of experienced and inexperienced riders." I like the first and last meanings best, because this is a holiday that's an escape from most elements of life as I know it back home; and the last meaning, because it exactly describes our group. For some of us the decision to sign on to the Raid was spontaneous, others a long deliberation, and we are a mix of varying cycling experience. Échappée! I've been thinking during this trip of a big downside to a cycling tour: we just haven't had time to explore the ville and countryside that w...

Day 3– how could it top days 1 and 2, which were exhilarating, challenging, spectacular, and more? How about with two more famous and challenging climbs? But first the run-up. "Raid," BTW, in the name of our tour, translates as "mission" or "task," according to guide Constantine. We speculated that "attack" or "conquest" could apply as well.  So we attacked the route of the day, and early, catching first light, after a pre-dawn breakfast on the hotel's terrace.  While days for the riders have started early for the last two, to get an early start to beat the heat and ride while we feel fresh, there is so much more that is done for us. While we’re finishing breakfast and getting into our kits, the guides have set up the portable racks with all of our bikes; when we’ve packed our luggage they pick it up from the lobby and load it into one of the vehicles; they collect our kit bags, that is, our bags ...

After such an exhilerating first day of our Raid, I wondered, "how can we top that?" Answer: with two incredibly challenging climbs, and the Tour d'Espagne, Spain's equivalent of the Tour de France. Their riders were scheduled to make the same climb we were today, the Col d'Abisque, at about the same time we were. At our group meeting the night before we considered different options, for taking a different route--ruled out in part because it would add 50 miles (80 km) to our day; for leaving early enough to hope to precede the tour through the Col; or to leave late enough to miss the entourage, at risk of stretching our day to 10-12 hours. We chose the middle way: leave early enough to try to begin the col before the road was closed down to cyclists and vehicles. With the hotel kitchen's cooperation we breakfasted early, and were wheels up--or rather, wheels down at 8a, an hour earlier than the usual plan.  This allowed us to leave shortly after su...