We arrived in Hendaye yesterday, put the bikes together and then went for a short ride along the coast, just to check everything was working ok.....including the legs! Dinner in the evening involved a briefing session and a chance to meet up with all our fellow "raideurs". It's a great bunch of folk - 15 in total and quite international in flavour! It's a real mix of occupations, ages and backgrounds, but basically just a really nice, fun bunch of like-minded people! The 'Raideurs': Rod, Iain, Alan, Billy - Scotland. Tom, John, Marty - Oz. Stephen - Canada. Monica - Morocco. Simon, Jason, Max, Alex - England.
Day 1 started after breakfast with the whole group riding down to the beach. (I know! An extra 5 kms!) and at 9am precisley, after we'd all had a ceremonial paddle in the Atlantic, we were off! The weather was fantastic all day and the scenery along the whole route has been beautiful - and that's before we've even reached the spectacular high mountains!
As ever, on events like this, the pace was high to start with. It wasn't long before the faster group left us and our group (about half the total riders on the challenge) settled into a pace which was "ok" for most of us.....it was still faster than I'd ride back home but we had the benefit of being in what Alix called the "Glasgow Armchair", the scots guys were in the front and we tucked in with them. It was great to ride in a small group and the good company definitely helped the miles tick along nicely!
Today was about riding into the foothills of the Pyrenees before the big climbs start tomorrow - just 3 classified climbs to challenge us. The biggest was the Col D'Osquich which at 11 kms long was a bit of a test for day 1. I suffered a bit on the climb and paid the price of the fast pace leading up to it. It was incredibly hot and we ginger/grey haired freckly folk don't like that - I drank 3 litres of water and energy drink on the bike plus a couple of cokes when we had a cafe stop.
Alix was great, she didn't leave me to fend for myself. She would have a bit of a dig up the climbs but was waiting for me when I arrived........never too far behind I should say! (Alix: Yup! I can vouch for that!)
The support we've had from Graham and Debbie, driving the support vans, has been brilliant! Waiting for us at appropriate points on the route, so we could get more water, food etc. At one point I even had a full wash with soap and water from the van as I was a sweaty mess! (Alix: Yup! I can vouch for that too!)
Big day tomorrow. We've got 3 giant climbs including the infamous 22 kms Col de Tourmalet and the 18 kms climb of the Col d'Aubisque. We've just had a well-earned dinner and now it's off for some well-earned kip.......an early night for the Archers.
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