Tour de France Cyclotourism — Col de la Core

For our last big ride in the French Pyrénées, we decided to drive east into the Ariège. Our destination was the Col de la Core, a bucolic HC climb I had read about on steephill.tv. The Ariège Pyrénées have a distinctly different feel from the rides we did in the Hautes Pyrénées, only 25 or so miles to the west. The mountains and valleys were greener and more rounded, and felt to me like large versions of the Green Mountains in Vermont.

Looking south towards Spain from the summit of the Col de la Core

We drove east from Ore along the D618, in the process covering (in reverse) a portion of Stage 15 of this year’s Tour de France. We parked in the village of Orgibet, and cruised downhill for 10 kilometers to Castillon-en-Couserans, at the base of the Col de la Core. There are only a couple of villages on the climb, and only at the bottom. After leaving Bethmale, the climb snakes up the left side of a wooded valley interspersed with farm fields, before sweeping to the right and left under the rocky upper reaches of Cap Ner. Like many of the climbs we did, the Col de la Core finishes with dramatic switchbacks in more open moor country before the summit at 4500 feet.

Looking down at the western approach to the Col de la Core.

Christine (waving) and Jess at the top of the Col de la Core

Mist-covered moorland at the summit of the Col de la Core

Ryan, Chris, Christine, and Jess posing under the summit sign

We flew down the eastern descent off the Col de la Core towards the tiny (even for the Pyrénées) village of Sentenac d’Oust. The road was perfect for descending — grippy pavement, nice smooth turns, and no cars. We almost missed the turn for the D137, the narrowest road we rode on all trip. At one point, we had to take a guess as to what was the actual road and what was a turnoff to a farm. The terrain was constantly moving, and included the small Cat 4 Col de Catchaudègue.

The D137 winding up the Col de Catchaudègue — a perfect 1-lane bike route

Ryan, Jess and Christine climbing the The Col de Catchaudègue

The D137, with Pyrénéean peaks in the background

We had intended to continue along the D137 through the hamlet of Alos back to the junction with the D618 in Saint Martin. Instead, we missed the turn and took a great descent to the Salat River. We realized our mistake when we saw a McDonald’s sign on the side of the road — I was pretty confident that there were not enough people in Saint Martin to support even a small Golden Arches outpost. Sure enough, we were on the outskirts of St-Girons. We didn’t get into the city center, and instead got back on the 2010 Stage 15 Tour de France route, heading west on the D618 back toward Saint Martin and eventually, our cars. As was standard on our trip, the beautiful sunny weather gave way to spitting rain for the last 20 minutes of the ride. The bad weather at the finish did nothing to diminish the ride, which was yet another gorgeous, hilly tour of the Pyrénéean countryside.

Here’s the Col de la Core loop in Strava.

The Tour de France Starts Tomorrow!

Tomorrow may be a day of mourning in Africa for the penalty kick that wasn’t, but in Rotterdam — the site of the first stage in the 2010 Tour de France — it is a day of anticipation and excitement. Incredibly, Team Strava was denied an at-large bid to this year’s Tour — general director Christian Prudhomme must not have wanted another orange kit in the peloton. We do, however, have some ideas for where to learn more about the Tour than you ever cared to know.

Websites worth checking out
Steephill.tv — Steephill has links to sites broadcasting bike race coverage, as well as great results pages, links to articles and commentary, and a fun collection of high-resolution photos of each stage.

Cyclingnews — Always a reliable source of information about all things bike racing, Cyclingnews also features live commentary during each stage (http://live.cyclingnews.com/).

Pavé Pavé Pavé — If you’re considering wagering on the tour, you should read Pavé’s detailed preview of all the teams and riders in the race.

Vélonews — Vélonews is the foremost US-based source of cycling news.

Pez Cycling News — Another solid pro cycling news source.

Cyclocosm — An interesting blog with lively commentary on pro cycling, as well as cool videos breaking down race highlights.

And of course, right here on the Strava cycling blog, where we’ll be following the highlights of the Tour de France, as well as having other cycling-related discussions. If you haven’t already, make sure you subscribe to our RSS feed!

Tour de France climbs in Strava

Stage 15
Stage 15, the second of the mountain stages in the Pyrénees, sends the riders over the Cat 2 Portet d’Aspet and the Cat 2 Col des Ares (which looks flatter in Strava than it really is!) before going up the relatively unknown HC Port de Balès.

Stage 16
Stage 16 is the hardest day in this year’s Tour (at least on paper). The riders will face 2 Cat 1 and 2 HC climbs on their way from Bagnères-de-Luchon to Pau. First up is the Col de Peyresourde, a climb Strava lists as HC but the Tour thinks is ‘only’ a Cat 1. Next is the Col d’Aspin, with an average gradiant of over 10%! In honor of the 100th year since the Col de Tourmalet was used in the Tour, this year’s edition goes over the huge climb from both directions. The Col de Tourmalet, eastern approach comes in the middle of the stage and will likely feature a breakaway containing the leaders in the Polka Dot Jersey competition. Finally, comes the HC Col d’Aubisque, only ridden in Strava from the opposite direction.

Stage 17
In this year’s last mountain stage, the organizers set up a dramatic mountaintop finish on the western approach to the Col de Tourmalet. Before getting to the final HC climb, the riders must tackle the Cat 1 Col de Marie Blanque.

Tour de France Cyclotourism — Tackling the Tourmalet

The Col du Tourmalet is a whopper. 6900 feet at the summit, after 4500 feet of climbing from the village of Luz-Saint-Sauveur. This year marks the 100th anniversary of the Tourmalet’s debut in the Tour de France — in honor of the occasion, the Tour goes over the climb from both directions on separate days (stage 16 and a summit finish in stage 17).

The whole group (Julie, Jess, Ryan, Jeremiah, Christine and I) was assembled for this climb, which was the main event of La Pyrénéenne cyclosportif. We got to the start of the ride in Bagnères-de-Bigorre not sure what to expect. I was imagining a jolly crowd of cyclists out for a leisurely loop in the Hautes-Pyrénées. Instead, as we rolled in just minutes before the start, we found hard-core cyclists of all ages, with the common thread being their serious looks and their carbon fiber bikes.

Julie, Christine, Jeremiah and Ryan discussing tactics at the start of La Pyrénéenne

We had just enough time to pick up our La Pyrénéenne jerseys and affix a timing chip to our bikes before the gun went off, and the crowd of 500 or so set out on a counterclockwise, 100km loop. Ryan went in front to mix it up with the faster riders, while Julie, Jeremiah, Christine, Jess and I established our rightful position at the back of the peloton. The first 25k or so went over rolling foothills and farmland between Bagnères-de-Bigorre and Lourdes. We thought were moving along at a good clip, but started to notice as we went around round-abouts that the volunteers giving directions were dismantling their signs right after we went by. After Lourdes, we turned onto the Avenue des Pyrénées, heading southwest to Argelès-Gazost and Saint Savin.

We stopped for a pastry in Luz Saint-Saveur, but quickly got back on our bikes when La Pyrénéenne’s sag wagon drove by. We didn’t want the race to pass us by, so we picked up the pace up the D918 to the base of the climb.

Jeremiah refueling, French style

Jess and Christine at the start of the climb - only 1364 meters of climbing to go!

The climb starts in the cleft of a steep valley, climbing directly up the fall line to the village of Barèges, a small resort town which marks the western edge of the Domaine Du Tourmalet — a ski resort which straddles the Tourmalet summit. After Barèges, we stopped at the final feed station for La Pyrénéenne, gratefully picking up ham and cheese sandwiches and cans of Coke. The weather was still quite pleasant, although up above we could see huge clouds looming over the summit.

Shortly after the feed stop, we broke out of the valley into a grand, open expanse of high moorland. A summit house was barely visible at the very top, far in the distance. At this point my wife Christine and I had settled into a steady climbing tempo. I attempted to make some small talk – “look Christine, some goats!” Christine responded efficiently – “yup,” “looks nice” – and then informed me that she wasn’t going to speak for a while to concentrate her energies on the task at hand. “A while” turned out to be 90 minutes. We ground up the massive switchbacks one at a time, carefully staying on our side of the road to avoid the dozens of cyclists, cars, and vans on their way down.

Finally, after 2 hours and 20 minutes of climbing, we ascended into the clouds at the summit. The top of the climb is a carnival of cyclists, hikers, support vans, and tourists in cars, all clustered around a lively restaurant. Christine slowly dismounted her bike, and we stumbled into the restaurant for a drink.

Restaurant at the top of the Tourmalet

Statue at the summit of the Tourmalet

If our non-existent sag wagon could have been summoned, we would have stayed for a couple hours, enjoying the warmth and chatter, and downing a couple bowls of cassoulet. As it was, we needed to get off this mountain without freezing, so we headed out into the cold fog to start the descent. The way down was otherworldly — the top was shrouded in such deep fog that I couldn’t see more that 20 feet in front of me. We shivered down through the La Mongie ski resort, and finally broke through the fog on the lower half of the descent. The final stretch down the D935 to Bagnères-de-Bigorre was a joy — I could finally take my cramped hands off the brakes and let my bike go a bit on the gentle descent.

We skipped out on the celebratory lunch to get back to Ore, where more World Cup awaited. We had climbed, we had suffered, but we had survived the mighty Tourmalet.

Tour de France Cyclotourism — Riding the Col des Ares & Col de Menté

I recently got back from a 10 day cycling trip to the Pyrenees with my wife Christine, my 20-month-old daughter Nora, my downstairs neighbors Julie and Jeremiah, and their 13-month-old daughter Piper. The babysitting logistics were complex, but the scenery was gorgeous, and the riding exceptional. I’ll be posting reports from each day’s ride this week —  so stay tuned!

The first ride, the Col des Ares and Col de Menté loop, was supposed to be a warmup, but turned into a bigger affair. Jeremiah Johnson and I headed out from our gite in Ore and started up a steep pitch out of the village towards Lourde, a tiny village up the hill. We then turned onto the D618 and the Category 2 Col des Ares.  This climb is a perfect prelude to the bigger climbs in the Luchon valley — a steady 3-5% grade, quiet, shaded road, and a stunning view at the top. The descent is even better, with beautiful views of the valley holding the villages of Moncaup and Arguenos:

Jeremiah admiring the view on the Col des Ares descent

We were now in idyllic rolling cycling terrain, farm fields interspersed with forest, and villages popping up every 5 or so kilometers. After a fast descent after the village of Juzet d’Izaut, we got to a fork in the road, with each branch leading to a famous climb.

Jeremiah checking out the various options

To our left was the Portet d’Aspet, a steep, wooded Cat 2 climb that is most known for its memorial to Fabio Casartelli, who died tragically descending the d’Aspet during the 1995 Tour de France. We were headed up the Col de Menté to the right, a Cat 1 climb heading west, topping out at 1300 meters above the town of St Beat.

Sign with the stats for the Col de Mente (a Cat 1 climb)

Unlike some of the other big climbs we did, this climb is all switchbacks in mostly open terrain. We were basically stepping up a very steep open slope one switchback at a time, with the views getting bigger and bigger as we went up.

Looking down the Col de Mente at the hillside farms and meadows

Looking at what's to come — more climbing up the hillside

Jeremiah navigating a steep switchback into the wind on the Col de Mente

Summit of the Col de Mente, with signs to the Portet d'Aspet, which starts over 2000 feet below

The top of the climb is wooded and a bit anticlimactic, but does feature a small bar/restaurant worth a stop. A group of Spanish mountain bikers were finishing up lunch when we arrived — empty wine bottles were on their table and a few were having a smoke outside. Mountain biking, European style!

We stopped in for a drink after the long, hot climb

The descent to St Béat wasn’t quite as scenic as the climb, but was still fun — and like the rest of the ride, basically free of cars. We returned to Ore on the D125 on the valley floor. The D125 and N125 are the main roads going through the Luchon valley, and are a necessary evil for a number of the rides in the area. There is a good bike lane for stretches of the road, and a great bike path along the Garonne in the northern part of the valley, but there are stretches where we were sharing the road with a trucks and high-speed French drivers.

All in all, it was a great first day. The Michelin maps didn’t lie when they marked the entire route with the green “scenic” shading!

Check out the Col des Ares and Col de Menté loop on Strava!