Here is a little col-lage of some of the big rides i did in Luchon.
Isn't this a beautiful site? That's Ian Potter back in his hayday.
Lunch stop for the group that i helped guide in Luchon
Another luch stop in the Pyrenees
And yet another
Rosie got me a flight in a gilder for my birthday, it was awesome.
View of Luchon from the gliderOur stay in the Pyrenees was terrific, but sadly all good this must come to an end. Luchion was a good place to rest up after a solid block of racing and to get back into training with plenty of big mountains around and some epic mountain bike trails (i don't like to use that word, but 'epic' really is the only way to describe some of the rides that Ian & Kate dragged me on).
After a week of doing very little riding post-madrid i hit the training pretty hard with a three day block that took me over 11 cols and a total of 9000m of climbing. The final day was the biggest with the idea being to ride most of stage 8 of this years tour which involved riding over the Col de Pereysourde, then the Col d'Aspin, then the Col du Tourmalet....then home again for a total of 4500m of climbing in 150km. During my stay i also rode the Col du Portillon, Col de Menté, col de Portet d'Aspet, Col de Port de Balès, and the Col des Ares, not bad.
I also spent a week helping Ian out guiding 9 British mountain bikers around the trails of Luchon. It was heaps of fun and the group was really strong so we got to ride heaps of excellent tracks. Plenty of climbing and some huge descents that left my poor little 140mm rear rotor blue and smoking.
Last week was my 30th birthday and Rosie shouted me a trip up in a glider. It was a great experience. We took off from the little airstrip in Luchon, towed by a small plane. After we disconnected we spent about 30minutes circling around in thermals and flying around a few of the close valleys. By chance we even flew directly over a couple of mountains that i had ridden up and down the few days prior, i think the pilot was pretty impressed.
Anyway like i said we have now left Luchon and are currently in Montreal, Canada. My first impressions weren't great to be honest. After being spoilt by the Pyrenean mountains this place is very flat. However today i managed to find some trails and roads on a small mountain that should suffice for training and i am now feeling much better about this place. I think i was just grumpy before because yesterday i was largely unsuccessful finding suitable trails during a 4 hour ride in the rain. I'll have to buckle down now and get some solid training in before the next block of racing starts in the start of July.
After a week of doing very little riding post-madrid i hit the training pretty hard with a three day block that took me over 11 cols and a total of 9000m of climbing. The final day was the biggest with the idea being to ride most of stage 8 of this years tour which involved riding over the Col de Pereysourde, then the Col d'Aspin, then the Col du Tourmalet....then home again for a total of 4500m of climbing in 150km. During my stay i also rode the Col du Portillon, Col de Menté, col de Portet d'Aspet, Col de Port de Balès, and the Col des Ares, not bad.
I also spent a week helping Ian out guiding 9 British mountain bikers around the trails of Luchon. It was heaps of fun and the group was really strong so we got to ride heaps of excellent tracks. Plenty of climbing and some huge descents that left my poor little 140mm rear rotor blue and smoking.
Last week was my 30th birthday and Rosie shouted me a trip up in a glider. It was a great experience. We took off from the little airstrip in Luchon, towed by a small plane. After we disconnected we spent about 30minutes circling around in thermals and flying around a few of the close valleys. By chance we even flew directly over a couple of mountains that i had ridden up and down the few days prior, i think the pilot was pretty impressed.
Anyway like i said we have now left Luchon and are currently in Montreal, Canada. My first impressions weren't great to be honest. After being spoilt by the Pyrenean mountains this place is very flat. However today i managed to find some trails and roads on a small mountain that should suffice for training and i am now feeling much better about this place. I think i was just grumpy before because yesterday i was largely unsuccessful finding suitable trails during a 4 hour ride in the rain. I'll have to buckle down now and get some solid training in before the next block of racing starts in the start of July.
1 comment:
Cannot believe you forgot to mention all the skills and fitness tips you learnt from Anne and I while guiding us for the week! Will let you off after publishing that picture of Ian. Hope all is well. Say Hi to Rosie, and good luck in your next races. We will be looking out for the results (and taking the credit!)
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