Classic Climbing Challenge Day 14

28 March 2012
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Classic Climbing Challenge from Specialized and Strava. Day 14: Two weeks in and 12 days of riding, I’m 59% of the way there. Today’s ride took me up the top of the valley to the Gavernie ski station, 35km at 3.8%, another Cat.HC. It is not a hard climb until after the village of Gavernie and then [...]

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Classic Climbing Challenge Day 13

27 March 2012
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Classic Climbing Challenge from Specialized and Strava. Day 13: I planned to take the day off, however it was so nice here in the mountains this evening I went for an easy ride to Le Tech in the Val d’Azun, another Cat.HC climb. It is 24km at 4%, a not very hard or interesting climb, [...]

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Classic Climbing Challenge Day 12

27 March 2012
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Classic Climbing Challenge from Specialized and Strava. Day 12. I rode up to Luz Ardiden, the ski station is still open although the snow is rapidly thinning out, another 2 or 3 weeks and the skiing will be over. The ride was 58.2km and I clocked up 1483m of the 32100 needed to complete the challenge. I am [...]

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Classic Climbing Challenge Day 11

25 March 2012
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Day 11 was the hardest and longest yet. I had ambitions of doing 3000m, legs just did’t have it today, perhaps tomorrow. I forgot to charge the camera last night and consequently I have no photos, you will have to take my word, it was a beautiful day. The Cat.3 climb to Segus near Lourdes takes you through a [...]

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Classic Climbing Challenge Day 10

24 March 2012
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Classic Climbing Challenge from Specialized and Strava. Day 10 took me up the Cat.HC climb to Cambasque, it is 17km at 5.1%. Today was the first day for a week where I didn’t feel cold, the opposite in fact, beautiful warm sunshine. It was a short ride today, as spring is here the grass is growing fast and the lawn [...]

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Classic Climbing Challenge Day 9

23 March 2012
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Classic Climbing Challenge from Specialized and Strava. Day 9 took me up the 21km Cat.HC climb to Col du Soulor, descended down to Ferriéres and back up the 12km at 7.9% to the summit. That’s a repeat of the ride on day 6, two Cat.HC climbs , in much better weather. The ride was 70.3km and I clocked up 2017m of [...]

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Classic Climbing Challenge Day 7 and 8

22 March 2012
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Classic Climbing Challenge from Specialized and Strava. Day 7, it was snowing, another day off was declared. Damm!!! I had planned to go across the border to see Volta a Catalunya and ride the final climb to Port Ainé. The snow put a stop to that. Glad I did’t go as the stage was shortened 55km by [...]

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Classic Climbing Challenge Day 5 and 6

20 March 2012
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Classic Climbing Challenge from Specialized and Strava. Day 5, it was snowing, a day off was declared. Day 6 took me up the 21km Cat.HC climb to Col du Soulor, descended down to Ferriéres and back up the 12km at 7.9% to the summit. That’s two Cat.HC climbs , on what was a bitterly cold day, 6°c at [...]

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Volta a Catalunya Start List

19 March 2012
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Route of the 2012 Volta-a-Catalunya Start List 2012 Ag2R La Mondiale  Nicolas Roche (Irl) Guillaume Bonnafond (Fra) Romain Bardet (Fra) Ben Gastauer (Lux) Mikael Cherel (Fra) Sebastien Minard (Fra) Anthony Ravard (Fra) Amir Zargari (Iri) Astana Pro Team  Janez Brajkovic (Slo) Paolo Tiralongo (Ita) Andrey Kashechkin (Kaz) Robert Kiserlovski (Cro) Egor Silin (Rus) Francesco Gavazzi [...]

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Volta a Catalunya

19 March 2012
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World Tour stage racing will return to the Pyrénées next week with the Volta a Catalunya. On Wednesday stage 3 will finish at the ski station at Port Ainé, a 19km climb at 6.3% to finish at 1947 metres altitude. It will be the highest  and probably the most decisive point of  the race. The Volta a Catalunya [...]

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Classic Climbing Challenge Day 4

18 March 2012
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Classic Climbing Challenge from Specialized and Strava. Day 4 took me up the 21km Cat.HC climb to Col du Soulor, it is 4.4% average. As usual these numbers don’t tell the whole story, the last 7km average 8.2% with a max of 18%. My plan today was to ride over Col du Soulor to Ferriéres and [...]

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Classic Climbing Challenge Day 3

17 March 2012
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Happy Saint Patrick’s Day! Classic Climbing Challenge from Specialized and Strava. Day 3 took me up the 16km Cat.HC climb to Col du Tramassel, it is 7.5% average, with 5km in the middle that really make you suffer. This is in my view the hardest climb in the Pyrénées, ride to the ski station at Hautacam (where [...]

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Classic Climbing Challenge Day 2

16 March 2012
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Day 2 took me up the 17.5km Cat.HC climb to Pont d’Espagne in the Pyrenees National Park. Firstly it’s a short descent from Saint-Savin to Pierreffitte where the climb starts. The first 10km are relatively easy but it sure kicks up after that, with long stretches of 11% and 12%. At the summit is a very large car park, the bridge itself is about 200m [...]

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Classic Climbing Challenge Day 1

15 March 2012
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Today I did my first ride for the Classic Climbing Challenge from Specialized and Strava. I was later leaving than planned as Sean who is usually awake between 07:30 and 08:00 slept until 09:30 so a sleep-in was had. Luz Ardiden was the destination, as I was leaving home a Golden Eagle swept low across the road in [...]

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All photos by Paddy Sweeney unless otherwise stated.