Haute Route Pyrenees: Day 1

Day 1: Anglet to La Pierre Saint Martin
143km, 3500m 

Our first Euro bike events were TransAlps. The TransAlps format is to ride in partners and it's great. Sharing the experience is much better than riding solo. Even though Haute Route is individually timed, we still choose to ride in partners. After much discussion, we settled on the following pairing schedule.

Day 1: TL/GD + Ribs/Buster
Day 2: GD/Buster + Ribs/TL
Day 3: Individual uphill time trial
Day 4: GD/Ribs + TL/Buster
Day 5: TL/GD + Ribs/Buster
Day 6: GD/Ribs + TL/Buster
Day 7: Family ride aka Canadian Express day

Ribs' bike arrived last night around midnight. 530AM breakfast. 6AM bike build.

Stormy all night. Misty and damp during the 7AM dark 9km transition to the start line. Rolled black kit and jacket. Sent gloves and dry jackets to the summit that was followed by a big descent. 

Good friend once told me, "better to born lucky than rich". Ribs is one lucky guy.

Even though no white kits, still looking good at the start.

About 75km of punchy rollers to today's first climb. Managed to keep hooking back up with Buster and Ribs' group so stayed with them until we started to go up. 

Big grades. 200lb, 4th liner doesn't like it when it gets really steep. Unfortunately foreshadowed what was still to come.

The grand tour rookie. Really enjoyed the views today.

(photo cred Tammy Brimner)

Day finished with 17km, 1240m climb that featured many sections at 12% +. It was a grind to the mountain top finish.

All in all, quite an uneventful day. No mechanicals. No crashing. Steady. Hoping for more of that. 

Bigger day ahead tomorrow.