Raid Pyrenees Bike For Sala Bai: A break in the weather and a victory

Started: 9.30am

Finished: 8.30pm

Total Distance:195km

3000m of climbing
State at finish: Totally Shattered.

The weather was much better today, starting overcast then clearing to be quite a bright day so no need to mention anymore.

My cycling colleagues expressed an interest in how they were portrayed in the blog and were surprised to here that other than photos they don't exist! So here goes.

Aidan - English with hint of Irish

Mark - English with hint of Canadian

Einar - English with hint of Norwegian

Dave - Quintessential English.

Hopefully this does not offend anyone but Aidan and Einar have been the strongest followed by the rest of us. So i new if I was going to get to one of the cols first I would have to have a pretty good plan. Tuesday night after lights out such a plan was devised.

The strategy: I needed a climb that was not too hard but big enough to talk about. Plus it had to come early enough in the day that I was not too tired. Enter the Col de Port - 13km average gradient 4.7%. I knew I had no chance of sprinting off at the base and leaving them behind so the element of surprise with about 100m to go was only option. Of course its all well and good to have a plan but executing it is a completely different matter. To cut what is already too long a story short, I managed to hang on all the way up and as view of the summit approached I unleashed my sprint. Only problem was that I was knackered so not really a sprint, more a slow passing manoeuvre. Einar, now alert to my intentions took on the challenge, (which I sincerely wish he had not!). From somewhere I mustered the strength to edge across the line. My euphoria quickly turned to deep concern as I realised I was buggered and we had only completed 50km of the 190km day!

By the top of the 27km Col de Puymorens I new I was in trouble. My concerns were not improved when I saw a sign after the descent stating 58km to go. Fortunately I was saved by a further 38km descent all the way into the town we stayed in. Very very very tired.