29-June-2009 Lac d'Estaing.
My favourite climb from Saint Savin is to Lac d'Estaing.
It is 16km from here and is easily done in about an hour
with a nice descend home. The lake is spectacularly
surrounded by high granite peaks, with crystal clear
water in which you can see Brown Trout swimming. The
climb averages 4.5% to an altitude of 1200 meters, with
a max of 14%.
Check out the ride on the Garmin:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/7629108
Lac d'Estaing late on a June evening.
Le Tour.
New Irish National Champion Nicholas Roche has been
confirmed for Le Tour 2009 by his AG2R team. It will be
great the have two Irish riders to follow after 4 years
of no one. I'll still be shouting for other favourite
riders like Cavendish, O'Grady and
Fumiyuki Beppu of Japan. He will be only the 3rd
Japanese rider in the tour and if he finishes he will be
the first Japanese rider to do so.
Daisuke Manaka rode in 1996 and Kisso Kawamuro in 1926
and 1927.
Fumiyuki was the first rider through St Savin in the
recent Route de Sud. Stage 9 will pass
through the village of Lau 1km from here where there
will be a sprint. I
haven't decided yet whether to go there or up the
Tourmalet.
Photo courtesy of
UCI ProTour.
24-June-2009 Dan Martin Garmin Slipstream have confirmed that Irish rider Daniel Martin
will ride the Tour de France this year. 22 year old Dan
will be the first Irishman to ride the race since Mark
Scanlon in 2004. Dan is a nephew of 1987 winner Stephen
Roche. Stephen's son Nicholas, is on the shortlist for AG2R who
will announce their team on Monday.
21-June-2009 Lanterne Rouge. The Polish rider Przemyslaw
Niemec,
has won the Route de Sud 2009. He was the first man
through St Savin on stage 2, which proved to be the
winning move, our hero however is German rider Marcel
Weber of the South African team Stegcomputer
- Neotel. Marcel was last through Saint Savin on stage 2
and likewise this proved to be the winning move for
Lanterne Rouge.
Marcel Weber climbs the Cote de Saint Savin, followed by
the broom wagon, 32 minutes after the first rider. As
usual with cycling he received the loudest cheers and
most applause from the spectators. Marcel is 21 years old
and I'm sure has a long pro career ahead with many
victories.
21-June-2009 Pau. Went to Pau yesterday to see the stage of Le
Grande Boucle Féminine. Checked the website of the race
for finish location and times. Avenue Gaston Lacoste at
17:00. I arrived there at 16:30 to an empty street
except for some confused looking spectators like myself.
A camper van from the DSB Bank team pulled up with an
equally confused driver, he made a phone call and
discovered the finished had been changed to the other
side of the city (3km away) and that the stage was
already over at 16:40. Was rather annoyed as you can
imagine.
Pau is a beautiful city and well worth a visit anyway.
This photo is of Pau Chateau, birth place of
King Henry IV.
On the way over to Pau on Col d'Aubisque I seen this
group of Vultures who had just gorged themselves on a
dead cow and were too heavy to fly. They are enormous
birds with wingspans of up to 3 meters, it was
surprising how fast they can run.
18-June-2009 Route de Sud 2009. Stage 1 of the Route de Sud passed through the
village at 14:30. Japanese rider
Fumiyuki Beppu (Skil Shimano) was first through, he
finished second on the stage. It was down hill so very fast with the
peloton about 10 minutes behind the break and about
another 20 to the broom. Stage 2 will be by at about
17:00 tomorrow. You can see some photos from today at
the link below.
http://picasaweb.google.com/velopeloton.com/RouteDeSudStage12009#
This video shows the peloton going through.
17-June-2009
I have setup a Picasa Web for photos taken by guests and
some by myself out in the mountains. Doing photo pages
the way I was is time consuming so this is much easier
and quicker.
You can see the galleries here.
http://picasaweb.google.com/velopeloton.com
14-June-2009
Le PyreneesCyclosportive.
Some of our guests rode the Le Pyrenees
Cyclosportive yesterday.
It started and finished in Argelès-Gazost, over a course
of 174 kms with the climbs of Loucrup (4th cat),
Hourquette (1st cat), Col d'Aspin(1st Cat) and Col de
Tourmalet(HCat) with 3500m of accent. Temperatures
reached 34c in the shade with scorching sun.
7:15am in
Argelès-Gazost and it is already
25c as riders from Naas, Newbridge and Stamullen Road
Club wait for the start. L-R Cormac Durnin (Naas),
Robert Looby (Newbridge), Graham Custerson (Naas), Paul
Doyle (Naas), Matt McDonnell (Stamullen) and Marc
Wouters(Naas).
Mathieu Perget,
is aFrenchprofessional for Caisse
d'Epargne. Interviewed at the finish.
Wayne Doolan of Naas Cycling Club at the finish.
Video of Naas rider Cormac Durnin crossing the line.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5F-xN5pcqQ
Video of the start in Argelés Gazost.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEOW54BgygQ
08-June-2009 Naas cycling club.
Naas Cycling Club, Co. Kildare, Ireland. They are all in
the same club but for some reason all wore different
jerseys. This photo was taken before heading off up the
Col de Soulor.
04-June-2009 Col d'Aspin.
I have added a page with photos of
Col d'Aspin which
will be used on stage 9 Le Tour de France 2009 on 12th
July. La Mongie.
Road still closed at La Mongie. It is possible to cycle
to Col de Tourmalet, the road has been cleared of debris
and is in good condition. As you can see there is still
lots of snow and a risk of avalanche.
30-May-2009
Today is the hottest day of the year so far, with the
temperature reaching 30c and clear blue skies.
As you can see from this photo clear blue skies and not
a gram of snow on Hautacam. Just a month ago ice and
snow were a problem on the climbs now its heat and sun.
30c in the shade.
Tourmalet open from the east.
I have received the following e-mail from a rider who
has ridden up the eastern side of Tourmalet on Wednesday
27th May.
"I have
followed your blog from Pau to gather info about the
Toutrmalet. After reading your latest posting I'm
sending this email for your info as I cycled there
yesterday. From the La Mongie side, the road is open to
the top and in good condition all the way up. After
this, I then made the mistake of descending the west
side, figuring I could walk my bike on the snowy
sections. Bad mistake - in the first 3 km or so down
from the summit there are a good half dozen, deep
snow-drifts and a couple of sections where small
landslides have destroyed the road. There were a couple
of sections where I had to scramble across the slope. I
am guessing it will be at least a few more weeks before
it is opened and patched-up?"
Thanks to Geoff May for the info. I'll give it a go
myself in the next few days.
27-May-2009 Road still closed.
The Col de Tourmalet and Col d'Aubisque remain closed,
this time last year they were open. On Tuesday some of
our guests attempted to ride the Tourmalet despite the
cold. They got to 8km from the summit at 1580m altitude.
It was only 4c up there, but 8 riders of Wolftrap CC
from Birr County Offaly, Ireland, went as far as they
could.
Brian, Gary and Shane of Wolftrap CC, Birr, Co Offaly,
Ireland.
As you can see from the photo there is a lot less snow
than the one from 10th May below, but the road is
blocked higher up,
check out this video on Youtube.
16-May-2009 Col de Spandelles and Col de Soulor.
Cycled the Col de Spandelles and the Col de Soulor from
the north. Check the ride on the Garmin:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/5561610 64km with
1933m of ascent, very hard ride the last 21km were down
hill, so all the climbing was in the first 43km.
The road between Col de Soulor and Col d'Aubisque is
still closed with no sign of any work on opening it.
There is still a lot of snow high above the road which
is a risk of avalanche. Sorry no photos the battery in
the camera was flat. We had fresh snow on Thursday night
so there was no work on opening the Tourmalet either.
The forecast is very good for this week with
temperatures into the 30s, I'll again predict that it
will open in about a week.
Alberto Contador had the same problem training in the
Pyrénées during the week, “The Astana
leader initially wanted to ride the Port d'Envalira as
well as the Tourmalet that will be tackled in stages
eight and nine of this year's Tour, but could not
because of bad weather conditions.”
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=news/2009/may09/may15news2
10-May-2009 Col de Tourmalet-Superbaréges.
Tried to climb the Col de Tourmalet again today. Still
closed but a lot less snow than a week ago.
The fork in the road, right for Col de Tourmalet or left
for Superbaréges ski station.
I rode on to Superbaréges at 1730m altitude, check out
the ride on the Garmin.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/5174159.
From Superbaréges the Col de Tourmalet is 5km away, it
looks very ominous with dark cloud in this photo, but it
was actually a very nice day but with the odd rain
shower. I could see that a lot of the Tourmalet road was
almost clear of snow and with the warm temperatures the
snow is melting fast, I'd say the road will be open by
next weekend.
On the decent home I took a small detour through the
village of Chéze. It is a short climb of about 2km to
the very pretty village perched on the side of the Gorge
de Luz.
This photo was taken just outside Chéze. Across the
gorge you can see the village of Viscos which is on the
climb to Luz Ardiden. The peak is also called Viscos and
is visible from the bedrooms of La Lanterne Rouge.
Every climb in the Pyrénées has at least 1 beautiful
waterfall, this one at Chéze is not very big but pretty
none the less.
09-May-2009 Le Tech
Cycled a new climb today, Le Tech is 1500m up in the Val
d'Azun. Its a 25km climb to Le Tech from St Savin, a
dense pine forest with the usual spectacular waterfalls
and stunningly beautiful vistas. On the way back I took
in the Col de Borderers, its only 3 km but very steep
and rather painful, but that's what cycling is all
about. Check out the ride on the Garmin 705:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/5109648
The view up the Val d'Azun, this road leads to Le Tech,
Col de Borderers, Col de Soulor and Col d'Aubisque.
The road to Le Tech, at the hydro dam.
Although it is summer there is still snow in sheltered
places. This is at the summit at Le Tech, 1500m
altitude.
7-May-2009
Summer is here and the snow and ice are melting fast,
the rivers of the Pyrénées are swollen by the melt water
and the falls and cascades are at their most
spectacular.
This photo is taken form the Pont d'Espagne at 1500m
altitude. It is 22km from St Savin and is a 19km climb.
It was a very nice 20c up there but in the afternoon it
was an even nicer 28c on the beach at Biarritz.
02-May-2009
La Grande Boucle Féminine:
The final 2 stages of the greatest women's race in the
world will be in the Pyrenees. Stage finish in Pau on
20th June and Anglet on 21st June.
http://www.velo-feminin.com/
1-May-2009
Summer is here at last but the weather is still a bit
cold this week, the forecast for the next week is good.
I was up the Col de Tourmalet yesterday, there is no
change there, still lots of snow and the road is blocked
at 9km to the summit. I went on to the ski resort at
Superberages at 1730m. At a guess I'd say there is still
a min of 2meters of snow and probably more at the
Tourmalet itself. With some good sunshine to come this
week it should be melting fast and work will begin on
opening the road in a week or 2. I'll keep you posted.
The road between Col de Soulor and Col d'Aubisque will
be closed for another month due to the risk of
avalanche. All the other cols are open and will be quite
busy with cyclists this weekend as it is a bank holiday
and the traditional start of the summer holiday season.
Garmin Slipstream have confirmed that Irish rider Daniel Martin
will ride the Tour de France this year. 22 year old Dan
will be the first Irishman to ride the race since Mark
Scanlon in 2004. Dan is a nephew of 1987 winner Stephen
Roche. Stephen's son Nicholas, is on the shortlist for AG2R who
will announce their team on Monday.
