First Day in the Pyrenees

Our ride today covered 92 km, from Carcassonne to the Port de Pailheres. It included about half the distance (the final half) of the day's actual Tour de France stage route: from close to Esperaza through Axat; the spectacular Gorges de l'Aude; and the very steep climb up the Port de Pailheres, where our tents were set up about 6 km from the summit. The ride from Carcassonne was long, hilly and very spirited. Leaving the hotel around 8:20 a.m., we didn't follow the planned route, but instead followed a much more interesting route through some beautiful countryside, with one hugely difficult climb (averaging a grade of well over 10% and up to 15% for about 2 or 3 km), and finally down to Esperaza, where we hooked up with the TdF route. The crowds lining the roads made it obvious that this was different from our other days, but when we rode past the first "sprint" placards and banners in Campagne-sur-Aude, we knew that we were really on course. Our "express train peleton" consisted of about 15 riders, and with local guide Eric in the lead, we kept a ridiculously fast pace all through the ride until we reached the Gorge de l'Aude, when the serious climb began and I decided to let most of the group go and climb at my own pace.

Our viewing area, not far from the summit, was in a beautiful setting - the tents were set up alongside the road alongside a huge field surrounded on all sides by the mountains, some with snow still visible in the distance. After the publicity caravan passed, a swarm of helicopters arrived and landed in the field, and a number of VIPs (we guessed) disembarked and got into a long line of cars that had arrived just minutes before. The helicopters left, and shortly thereafter there were more helicopters buzzing overhead and the riders arrived.

They came by in twos and threes, followed by one large group containing all of the jerseys, additional riders either alone or in pairs, and finally the "autobus" – all the sprinters who were riding together in order to avoid being eliminated by having missed the time cut. Because of our location, we were standing right at the edge of the road, and the riders were just feet away.

After the riders had passed, we rode back down the mountain to our buses, which were waiting at Axat. This was a thrilling 30 km descent, initially on very steep slopes surrounded by walkers, cars and other bikers. It was very difficult because you had to constantly squeeze the brakes to avoid plowing into the car (or bike) in front of you. Finally the traffic thinned out and we could release the brakes and course down about 20 km, riding right in the traffic between cars at a speed of about about 35 mph, mile after mile after mile, sweeping around big gentle curves, and pedaling madly on the flatter sections to keep up with the speed of traffic. Finally, the cars came to a complete stop in the gorge, and we swung into the left lane and squeezed past dozens of them until things loosened up again and we finally reached Axat.

There we were grateful to find an ice cream store right across from the bus, which held us until we arrived back at Carcassonne around 8:00 p.m. A lavish dinner ended around 11:00 p.m. and after finishing this blog entry I'm going back downstairs to meet some of the group for further festivities and discussion of the day's events.