A warm up ride in the Pyrenees

Following the last post from Barcelona where Mick and I were joined by Rob, we drove the his car to Zaragoza, more or less due west of Barcelona and about 250km. Arrived at a very nice hotel and proceeded to reassemble our bikes from their luggage boxes. Hotel room looked like a poorly organised bike workshop for a while but there were no grease marks at the finish. Had a great night out on the town in Zaragoza having discovered 'happy hour' in one of the town squares. Dinner was a much superior paella than the one in Barcelona I'm pleased to say. While it was cooking, I left the lads to take a stroll around Z at night to see if there any photo opps.

Zaragozians going about their usual evening strolls

Lost tourists looking for happy hour

Quite a pretty town with cathedrals and broad avenues

Paella time with Mick (L) and Rob (R)

After a delicious breakfast we caught up with the rest of the riders and crew. Jeff the builder and Fran the crisis manager from Bondi, Libby the expat Aussie merchant banker living in London and Aaron the male nurse from St. Vincent's in Sydney. Mark, an Englishman and professional bike guide with his own company "Velovation" is our driver having been subcontracted by Ride & Seek for this trip. Jess, an American expat living in Barcelona is our Spanish speaking crew member. Crunchy tells me she has been doing some wicked training kilometres in the lead up to this and looks like she could give us all a run for our money in the mountains.

As we headed out of Zaragoza the weather was fine and warm but this was not to last. Approaching the foothills of the Pyrenees you could see jagged peaks becoming obscure by misty clouds and, yes, rain. Arrived at the hotel - another splendidly luxurious abode at a place called Tramacastilla, a mere 28km or so from the French border. We were to have a 'warm up' ride.

Refuelling stop. minus clouds and a few teasing peaks. Fran, Mick and Libby

Road going up and cloud coming down

Not far from the hotel

Arriving at the hotel in Mark's van.

Undeterred by the fact that it was raining at the start, we all set of bravely, hoping that over the first climb the weather would clear up on the other side. These warm up climbs were some 12km long with a modest gradient and there were three in all for a total of 1500m plus climbing. We were offered the chance to call it quits after the first because it was getting quite cold and the rain was falling harder, but, determined to be look like wimps we soldiered on.

View from a brief stop along the warm up ride

Finally, some sunshine. Rob enjoys the view just below our hotel

The views were stunning as we rolled through quaint old villages comprising nothing more than a few stone buildings surrounded on all side by what looked like tall peaks, but I suspect we aint seen nothing yet. A hot chocolate aa Torla, our turn around, revived our flagging spirits as we set out of the return leg. I was shivering quite badly as I'm sure others were as well. Nothing like a steady climb at low speed to get a bit of warmth back not the body though and soon the weather clears for a smooth run home to a well earned hot shower.

Today will be our first real taste of the Pyrenees as we head into France bound for Saint Savin. A mere 2200 metres of climbing but packed into just 95km, suggesting things could get a bit steep out there today. Our ride will take us over the picturesque Col de la Portalet (1795m)at the border. After a coffee we head for the Tour de France stalwart, the Col d'Aubisque (1709m), twisting and turning up for 16km with an average gradient of 7.2%. Legs feel good at the start. I'll let you know how they are at the finish.