Haute Route Pyrenees: Day 7

Pyragudes to Toulouse

155km and 1800m

Not the most specular of stages, but still a remarkable day. Finishing a grand tour is an accomplishment few own. At the end, time and placing are relatively irrelevant. Lining up at the start seven mornings in row and riding to the finish each day is  what matters most.

Proud of Buster. The first tour is by far the hardest. The Day 7 finish line is a feeling like no other and he’s now experienced it.

Like 2012 and 2014, Day 7 was Canadian Express, will all four of us riding together. Morning started with a 16km downhill neutral roll from yesterday’s finish in the Peyragudes ski area. 

Saved some fresh sock dope for the last day. 

As our hotel was at the bottom of the hill in Louchon, along with about a 50 other participants, we meet the pack in the valley and rolled across the timing start with the peloton.

15km of flat onto the only big climb of the day. A Seymour compressed over 9.1km. Plan was simple. Get the 4 of us over the col as quickly as possible. 

As he always does, 4th liner brought his best for game 7. TL gets stronger and stronger as these events progress. Total machine today. And Buster channeled his 32min Cypress, wearing his good set of legs to play. 

We summited with a competent group and descended 10km into the valley, onto a 100km of rolling descent into rolling flat. 

Unfortunately not long into this final segment we had to stop as TL had a bike issue. After some serious assessment and teamwork, got it fixed, but we lost our train and a bunch of time. 

Fought back onto another train but we were now with less competent riders, pushing themselves hard on the final day. Dangerous situation. We generally hung at the back of that group. With 15km to go lined up the Canadian Express and hit it hard. Blew off the group and pace-lined to the finish. Might have experienced our first bit of team dissension as we coordinated our escaping efforts and pulls — but leaving that on the road.

Wifey and Mrs. 4th Liner were waiting at the line. First time wifey has attended a grand tour finish. Was a treat. Missed her. 

Quite possibly the best piece of media from the entire event. I'll let the footage speak for itself. Videography by wifey.

Well deserved bottle of champagne and incredible dinner in Toulouse. 

As I suggested, final placings don’t mean much. Between time penalties and assisting teammates, our approach to these events pushes our results down in the cumulative standings when compared to our “free to fly” days. That said, some requested that I share.  

The Pro: 53, 27:58:38 (inclusive of 10min penalty)

Le Directeur: 54, 27:59:02

Rookie: 117, 30:35:36

4th Liner: 118, 30:36:10

It’s over. Not sure when I’ll be back for my next. Need to get some old guy out of retirement first. Thanks for following along.

Haute Route Pyrenees: Day 6

Saint-Lary Soulan to Peyragudes
131km, 3500m

On paper, not the biggest climbing day of the event - that was yesterday - but I suspected today would be the hardest stage. It was.

Hot, literally and figuratively, right from the gun. 800m roll through the village before we went straight up for 10km (Cypress). After the first climb, 60km combo of descent and rolling ascent to the base of the day's big climb. Clear everyone had the same plan — summit the first climb with a fast group to make lighter work on the 60km transition.

As referenced by yesterday's guest blogger, I got called out for riding like a coward on Day 4 and 5. Over dinner last night, Ribs threw down the gauntlet and told me to start riding stronger. Said I was being too conservative. He was right but I have not had a day here during which I felt "on". Biggest motivator was Rib's observation that this could be the last grand tour for a while. Said leave it on all the road today.

Ribs gave the stare down at the morning start with a "let's go Dooks". 

I felt good on the first climb. We started at the back of the lead 75 starting block. For the first 10min of the climb worked our way threw the crowd. Bridged up to a group of 10 and Ribs said, "ok, these are our guys". Settled into a hard tempo to the summit of the 40min climb. Descended off the Azet with the group and had good organization for the next 60km as we rolled fast to the bottom of the Port de Bales. 

Good start to the day definitely attributable to sock doping.

Porte de Bales is 19km and 1300m of gain. After a short ramp to start the climb, group's pace was fairly mellow until 12km from the top. I was near the front and felt good. Turned up the output and found myself on my own. Legs were solid so kept rolling hard. Looked back a couple times and didn't see anyone. At 5km, Ribs bridged up solo. At 2km, Ribs turned it up a bit and summited a few hundred meters ahead of me. Our group from the start of the day was blown to pieces. 

A 10km Seymour followed. All I remember is hot. Riding into a hair blower. Well north of 30degrees. Ribs and I submitted together on our own. Short descent and a steep 3.5km climb to the ski town finish. I was cooked and rolled steady. Ribs motored ahead and put a couple minutes on me.

All in all, good day on the bike. Rested at the finish waiting for TL and Buster.

As for their day, pictures worth a thousand words.

17km roll down to the town where our hotel is located. On the rare occasion National Champ rides a bike in Vancouver, he teaches his TNA teammates a thing or two. Typical subject matter covered is weight lifting or tanning. Shirtless riding kit management learned from Champ was executed today.

Last day tomorrow. Seymour-like climb to start day followed by about 140km of downhill rolling terrain into the Toulouse finish. We're rolling "Canadian Express" Day 7, with all four clowns staying together. 

Not sure when I'll post about Day 7, so few concluding thoughts.

One. Shout out to wifey. Cycling can be a very selfish sport, stealing time from family and friends. Wifey is nothing but supportive and encouraging. For that, I'm thankful. 

Two. Events like this require a support network. AP, my coach of 6 years, is a gem and makes bike my fun place. Le Domestique consistently steps up to ensure the equipment is tip top. And this has been my 6th trip with Magic Places. One of the best.  

Three. The fun of these trips is the camaraderie with fellow clowns. We've been planning HRP 2016 for 2years. The anticipation quickly turns into the grind of 10days sharing tiny rooms, coordinating all activities and dealing with each other in various states of exhaustion. Coming out the other side of one these events and still enjoying sitting down for a meal with your ride-mates is a minor miracle and testament to good chemistry amongst quality characters. Let's face it, I can be a dick and these guys put up with me. :  )

Haute Route Pyrenees: Day 5 (Guest Blogger)

Post today in an unedited format via guest blogger Jamie aka "The Method Man" aka "Ribs" Armstrong.

Who: 510 riders. 

What: Stage 5 (Saint-Lary Soulan - Cap De Long). 100km. 3,700m vertical. 

When: August 24, 2016 (Blake’s 4th bday!)

Why: Love riding our bikes in Euro-land especially these epic Grand Tours!

Today on paper was the “queen stage” (most challenging). We broke protocol today; no partners, every man for themselves.  Another words, we were “free to fly”…

Every night we’re lucky to have the 4th liner read the next days stage in detail so we’re informed and can plan accordingly. Nice to know what’s coming. TL has done many endurance events and knows how to prepare and what it takes. This 4th liner has potential...

Excited to clip-in and get rolling a quick selfie of the grand tour veteran was in order. The other two clowns were back a starting block.

Back Story. GD has completed 5 of these events over the past 6 years. When he makes up his mind and registers, he trains hard, does the prep and takes it seriously. His sixth is imminent.

Below is a training ride I was privileged enough to join him on in the British Properties back in West Van. Chartwell Drive hot laps.

Colin aka. Buster went "ka-boom" yesterday as most rookies do. Not out of the norm. Not knowing what would come today he thought “taping” his knee would be the answer. Not so much. I give him full props for getting this tough stage done and keeping himself in the tour. Climbing European mountain ranges ain’t easy people.

Finish shot of TL and Buster at the top of Cap De Long (a long 21km climb to finish today’s stage). GD and I descended  after finishing and the saw the boys riding up to complete their day. Buster’s face looked like Ferris Bueller when his buddy drove his dad’s vintage sports car off the back of the garage and over the ravine. #stunned #blank #nobodyhome You get the idea. Keep going Buster!!

I rode most of this stage by myself (without partner). Why? Great question. Le Directeur in my opinion should be riding with me or at the most #dietrying  We came here to race bikes and this potentially may be his last tour. We rode together Stage 4 (previous day) and at one point I mentioned that we should pick the pace up a bit….he looked at me like Hillary looks at Trump (that’s not happening buddy)… So we continued to ride “safe” to the finish. Total BS in my mind. I let him know how I felt at lunch post ride…hoping it wasn’t the beer talking. He responded with “you’re right, I’m in!” Looks like we’re going hard tomorrow. We’ll see how this goes.

Lastly, shameless plug for Cannonade (this bike is doing all the work for me in Pyrenees!!) Thank you Cannondale for this amazing bike!

Over and out. 

Haute Route Pyrenees: Day 4

Angeles-Gazost to Pla D'Adet
97km, 3600m
Ribs/GD + TL/Buster

The day in red.

It got real. The Pro protected the Le Directeur over the 3 big cols. The 4th liner demonstrated he’s been here before and knows how to get the job done. The rookie had his eyes opened. 

Good highlight real from today gives a taste of what we experienced. 

Given Rib’s top 10 yesterday, we thought we should honour him by wearing Method red. Even in red, kits were still tight. Rolling at dawn to the start line.

Looking so good we made the front page of the Haute Route site.

Ribs and I started with the fast coral today. 7km roll to the bottom of one the most famous climbs in Europe - the Tourmalet. From our approach the ascent was 30km and over 1800m of elevation gain (3xCypress). Ribs and I narrowly avoided a crash in the rollout. About 8 riders went down a row in front of us. Hard left to avoid. Ribs may have ridden over someone. Show goes on.

We rode steady on the first climb. Awesome descent off Tourmalet. Fast and flowy. Straight onto Seymour elevation climb spread over 17km. Neutral descent (dangerous) and into the final climb that averaged 10% for 10km finishing on a mountain top. It was a baker and at times felt like riding into a hair blower. 

How one feels after 4 1/2 hours on a bike following Ribs.

And the expressions in this photo tells the story of how things went for the other TNA team (zoom in on Buster's mug). Welcome to a grand tour, Buster.

In Saint-Lary Soulan, a pretty ski town in the heart of the Pyrenees, for the next two nights. Tomorrow is the Queen’s stage. Most climbing we will do in a single day. Going to be another cracker. We've chosen to go 'free to fly' on tomorrow's stage. Every man for himself. See how that works out.

Haute Route Pyrenees: Day 3

Day 3: Couraduque uphill time trial

16km, 900m

Method Man, aka "Ribs", put on a show today. Race against the clock. 16km uphill. 900m. More than a Seymour. Full gas. The indoor spinner broke the top 10, finishing with the 8th fastest time. Method spinning is real.

One of the best parts of the accomplishment is that Ribs rides data-free. While the rest of us  cycling nerds, obsess over the power we're going to hold, distance remaining, time targets — Ribs rides by feel with no certainty on distance, time nor output. Obviously works quite well for him.

Town we stayed in was 13km from the start. Easy roll to race central. Well coordinated socks and bottles today.

Time trial format was to send a rider down the ramp and up the hill every 20seconds. TL first, followed by Buster, then me, with Ribs bringing up the rear. Ribs made up his 20seconds on me within my first minute. Went out hot but held it.

The organizers still let Buster ride despite the fact that he clearly cannot ride a bike. Soiled a brand new pair of team issue socks.

All smiles at the summit finish. 

Pyrenees provided an amazing backdrop. 

 Big winners drink big beers. As for the others . . .

Post lunch rolled back to our hotel town. Heating up here. High 20s today. Mid 30s tomorrow.

In my experience, these events don't get real until day 4. One can typically string together a couple, 3 big day training blocks leading up to the event. During the event, day 4/5/6/7 involve taking the body  to uncharted territory. 

Tomorrow Ribs and I riding together. Going hard. We'll see how that works out.

Haute Route Pyrenees: Day 2

Day 2: Pau to Argeles-Gazost
145km, 3600m
GD/Buster + TL/Ribs

Grand tours require sacrifice. One sacrifice was missing Lloyd's special birthday party. Day started with a great FaceTime at 10PM Kelowna time, 7AM Pau time. Lloyd, family and friends were clearly making TNA great again. Tribute video for birthday boy.

Bluebird, but not hot. Some cloud cover near the 4 cols passed through. 

Keeping it tight with sock coordination. Might get disqualified for sock doping.  

Spanish gals in the start coral behind us were very excited to help us with this photo. White kits still playing very well in Europe. Much better understood over here than in Vancouver. Local fans love the whites. 

Stage today included a 10km climb (Cypress), 17km climb (2xCypress) and finished with a 10km climb (Seymour). Steep again. Like the 4th liner, Buster doesn't like the steeps. Thinks he needs a Nook pizza for a rear cassette. Join the club.

One of the more social people I know, Ribs makes friends with everyone, everywhere. He spent some time with the Latern Rouge today. 

Again had some great photos by Tammy Brimner atop the 17km climb, Col Aubique. Scenery was a 10/10.

Recovery in a grand tour is extremely important and I take it very seriously. 

These guys all smiles when they rolled through the finish. Small downer today was having to ride 13km to our hotel from the finish area (next town over has all the hotels). Smiles were not as big when I lead us 5km in the wrong direction turing a 13km ride into a 23km ride after completing a 6hr stage. 

But as we've learned, beer and wheel fixes everything. 

Two nights here. Mellower day tomorrow. Individual 16km uphill time trial tomorrow. Lots of time to start sweating the real start to this event - Day 4. More on that later.

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.