Chemin de Compostelle, voie du Piémont Pyrénéen.
J07 : Entre St-Pé-d'Ardet et Saint-Bertrand-de-Comminges. 

#photographie #photography
#france #occitanie #hautegaronne #hautepyrenees #saintpedardet #saintbertranddecomminges
#compostelle #gr78 #piemontpyreneen
#church #religious #mountain #path #sky #sun
#landscape #outdoor #outdoors #nature #hiking
#travel #tourism
#summer #picoftheday #photooftheday #naturephotography #natureview #horizon #view #panorama

Pyrénées 2024 - Day 14: Last day! Lac Estang. 40km / 893m

And so we arrive to our final day. Two weeks in the beautiful Pyrénées mountains, for the second year in a row. I'm out of words. This place is my favourite. I hope I continue to come back here for the rest of my life. I can't think of a better place to ride: great roads, insane world-famous climbs, low traffic, great food, vegetables, and markets, clean rivers to swim in, nice people... I can't think of anything that tops it. But then, the world is big, and surely there are other mountains to be discovered.

Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/12034856159

Trip stats:
- 879 kilometers traveled
- 18,063 meters climbed
- 12 days riding
- 2 days running
- 1 true rest day
- 1 trip to the spa
- Infinite joy

I finished our last trip (Tuscany), saying we could have gone further and faster, but every moment was thoroughly enjoyed. (I'm not suggesting I wish we had gone further or faster, on the contrary, our pase was PERFECT :) This time, I truly don't think I could have gone further, or much faster. It was a hard one. But the rest holds, every moment was beautiful.

Until next time! ✌️

#cycling #pyrenees #hautepyrenees #france #biketooter

Pyrénées 2024 - Day 14: Cirque de Gavernie reprise. 100km / 2207m

Back to the cycling talk... Here is a testament to how insane Argelés-Gazost and its surroundings are for cycling. It's day 14 of this trip (11th day on the bike, I think?) and I had yet to repeat a climb. But we all were in agreement the this Col de Tentes route was our favourite, so the tree of us decided to do it one more time before the end of the trip. Same as before, this is a beast with close to 2000 meters of climbing straight from our door to the top of the Col. It's pretty gentle for the first 30 or so km, then slowly goes up, with the last 10+ km a proper hors categorie slog, in the baking sun. I was definiteyl slow getting my legs in gear, but by the time we hit the upper slopes we were back in business and I loved every moment of it. Felix was Felix and skipped ahead, then casually threw in Luz Ardiden (see Day 6) on the way back for a massive day. Mandeep and I kept it chill (though honestly there was no other way for me).

Major news, saw TWO marmots, but they're elusive little guys so couldn't snap a photo. 🦔 🦔

We capped it off with a proper lovely meal in town at the restaurant Au Fond Du Gossier, which I can't recommend highly enough if you are ever in Argelés-Gazost!

Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/12027638795

#cycling #pyrenees #hautepyrenees #france #biketooter #gavernie #biggestclimb #selfie #spain #finedining #marmot

Pyrénées 2024 - Day 12: Col d'Aspin and Col du Tourmalet (east approach). 128km / 2724m

If there was a queen stage this trip, for me this was it - my only two-col day, plus some serious heat. I headed out early on an approximate reverse loop of our Day 7 Tourmalet ride: Leaving Argelés-Gazost, and heading north down the valley towards Lourdes, then east across a lovely and deserted windy road to the adjacent valley. The mission: to climb the other (east) side of Tourmalet, which for some is the more "official" or exciting ascent. But before that, an added bonus of Col d'Aspin. Felix headed out after me but soon caught up and we made our way up Col d'Aspin. It was great and quiet, not much car or bike traffic and another beautiful winding road. Aspin isn't huge (600 or 900 meters depending where you count from, and around 4%) and the sun was still low to the temps were manageable and the climb enjoyable. Then came the main event, back down Aspin and settling in to the mighty Tourmalet once again. This side is a monster, 1250m at average 7.5%. And by now the sun was blazing with nowhere to hide. Felix was long up the road, and I took my time up to the top. 35 water refills later I made it, enjoyed a cheese and baguette sandwich and a Coke, then Felix and I headed back down towards home. The descent was pretty insane - it's long (maybe 40km back to home, almost all downhill), and with every meter back down it got hotter and hotter. We were well cooked by the time we got back, and celebrated with another visit to the swimming hole and a walk into town for pizza in the evening. 5 star day. I'm dead ☠️.

Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/12010119333

#cycling #pyrenees #hautepyrenees #france #biketooter #coldutourmalet #coldaspin #pizza #swimming #rivegave

Pyrénées 2024 - Day 11: Run 8km

Sooo.... running again? Heat wave is in full swing now, and the legs are really feeling it. So fitting in a run here and there is a prefect rest/not-rest day activity. Mandeep and I took off on a trail down the river (Rive Gave) to last year's swimming spot, then I continued on to check out the villages of Boô-Silhen and Silhen, and randomly discovered the pirate hideout Deth Potz 🏴‍☠️. Nearly melted under the sun and finished at our new swimming spot a few meters from our door. Rrrrrrrrrrrgh.

Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/12000763247

#running #not #cycling #pyrenees #hautepyrenees #france #biketooter #canicule #heatwave #pirates

Pyrénées 2024 - Day 9 (cont.): WIFE APPRECIATION POST

One other thing: the climb up to Gavernie and Col des Tentes is insanely large and demanding. It's the largest climb I've ever done, easily besting Tourmalet and even some of the insane cycling I did in Colombia a few years ago. (Note to self: still need to put together a travelogue of that trip!)

Col des Tentes is not the most popular Pyrénées climb but still frequented by cyclists in the know. At the top there is an ever rotating cast of cyclists arriving, taking a break, taking photos, and resting before turning around and heading back down.

It is notable and mega-impressive that this day the only woman I saw on the climb or at the top was my superhero wife Mandeep!! She is such a champion. She has been a lifelong commuter cyclist, and got her first road bike a season or who after I got mine - as the joke went, she decided to buy the bike to be able to hang out with her boyfriend. Since that time she has turned into a bonafide baddass cyclist, and together we have spent hours, days, and weeks on our bikes together. Doing world-class hors categorie climbs has become a bit of a normal occurrence for her, and more than a few times I find myself trying to hold her wheel when the road goes up.

I'm super proud and all that she achieves on and off the bike and just can't believe how lucky I am to have her in my life.

I ❤️ you Mandeep!!!

#cycling #pyrenees #hautepyrenees #france #biketooter #cirquedegavernie #wife #appreciation #post #wifegoals

Pyrénées 2024 - Day 9: Cirque de Gavernie and Col de Tentes. 101km / 2348m

Ok, back to the Pyrénées adventure (sidetracked by Olympics taking place all around me in Paris...). With our legs and lungs properly rested, it was time to hit one of the big ones. Col de Tentes is bigger than Tourmalet (approx. 1700m of continuous climbing, basically from our door) but had never been used in the Tour due to its location in a national park. The route runs up to the Cirque de Gavernie, an incredible semicircle of massive peaks, and ends at Col de Tentes, marked by a modest parking area and several hiking trails that span the last few meters to the border of Spain and beyond. We did this route last year and agreed it was our favourite, and same this year. It is the rare mix of being up close to awestrikingly massive mountains, and getting there on a beautiful, winding, nearly deserted road.

Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/11986326272

#cycling #pyrenees #hautepyrenees #france #biketooter #cirquedegavernie #spain #biggestclimb #strava

Pyrénées 2024 - Day 8: Run 8.28 km

Needed to switch gears a little after yesterday's Tourmalet raid, so I headed out for a run on the trails in the valley. Definitely a different flavour than cycling up the sides of mountains, but super fun and gorgeous out there.

Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/11976398090

#pyrenees #hautepyrenees #france #biketooter #running #knees

Pyrénées 2024 - Day 7: Col du Tourmalet. (west approach) 105km / 2084m

(2/2) More from Col du Tourmalet. It's a great scene at the top. Cyclists from all over the world arrive there to catch their breath, have a drink and snack at the little resto, and take pictures. We follow suit, then continue on. There is one road that crosses the col, so today we came from the west. It's a straight shot up the valley from Argélés-Gazost where we are staying, and today after the summit we continue down the other side for a nice big loop ride.

Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/11969640025

#cycling #pyrenees #hautepyrenees #france #biketooter #coldutourmalet #letour #tourdefrance #bucketlist