Postscript

As you can see by the dates on the last few blogs, we fell behind on our blogging at the end of the trip. We are caught up now and you can see more information from our trip at www.mtnjunkies.com. Please leave lots of comments on our blog and on our photo pages.

Summary

This was a fantastic trip that surpassed all of our dreams. It was great to be tourists in Barcelona and Paris, bit the real treat was challenging ouselves physically and experiencing the French culture on our way across the Pyrenees. Our group was very complimentary to our love of cycling and our desire to enjoy the ride. While we set our sites on the Col de Tourmalet, every day and every col before and after was awe-inspiring. While the easiest day was still 3000 feet of climbing, the typical day was more than we ever think of riding in New Mexico or Colorado. We had two days with about 12000 feet of climbing which used to seem unattainable. I hope you NM folks are ready to step up - the bar is definitely raised now. In the end, we rode 490 miles and climbed 60,000 feet in 7 days. Wow.

Traveling was a constant challenge.There were several times that not understanding the language led us to do things the hard way, but we made it through in the end. We knew that carrying our bikes would be a pain, but we could not find another option as we were doing a point to point trip instead of a loop. We had many long days and were typically up at 5am or 6am and did not go to sleep until 11pm or 12pm.

Although we acted like tourists in the big cities (Paris and Barcelona) Kenny got to use his four years of high school French (thanks Mom and Dad) and blend into the countryside while on a bicycle. He was not expecting to enjoy the culture but quickly came to love the easy-going attitude and will be happy to go back and spend more time there. Also, speaking French can be tricky. For instance, "en retard" simply means that you are late. That almost started a fight between Kenny and a concierge. And "une douche" is just a shower.

The Roads...were best in the early part of our trip, with fresh pavement and paint on nearly every road. The roads got rougher towards the end of our trip with a horrendously fresh chip-seal job on the final day. The few stages of the Tour de France that we rode along seemed to have been paved on the uphill side for the Tour, while the downhill side was left rough. Since we were going in the opposite direction, this was great! The roads over the cols are really bike paths that sometimes have lines painted on the sides, and occasionally a line down the middle. No one pays attention to the lines anyway. Traffic is very constant over all of the roads, even the remote cols. You rarely spend more than a couple of minutes without a car coming up from behind, and there is invariably one coming when you try to take a picture or have to negotiate a sharp downhill hairpin. Having said that, the drivers are always respectful of bicycles. They will wait behind you until there is not another car coming, but will then pass you quickly as soon as there is the slightest gap. They pass closely, but not agressively, and the small cars are much less intimidating than American SUV's and dually pickup trucks.

The Food...is great, but different from everyday American. There is lots of bread and wine and cheese, They don't serve heaping plates of food, but the breads are filling and there are several courses including an entree (not the main course), a specialty (the main course), and a dessert. The typical beer is a light lager similar to Heineken, but nothing like a good hoppy microbrew IPA. We stuck mostly to wine and sometimes had good luck with a pitcher of the vin de maison, and sometimes not. The same with bottles and sangria. A bottle of the local wine (vin de pays) was usually a good choice. Breakfast (le petit dejeuner) was often just a bread roll and a croissant with butter and jam. Lunch is a light sandwich and many places close after 2 pm and don't open for dinner until 7 pm. Many people don't eat supper until 9pm.

The French take their bread seriously. As we rode though town after town throughout the day, the busiest spot was always in front of the bakery (patisserie). People would be coming out the doors nibbling on a single baguette wrapped in paper or a bagful stuffed under their arm like a football. It is baked fresh every day and is has a hard crust, but is light and airy inside and it is delicious. Sandwiches are mostly baguettes with a thin slice of spiced ham like prosciutto and cheese.

When riding, we would typically try to fill up as much as possible on the light breakfast and then hold out until lunch. Our support driver, William, had an uncanny ability of showing up at the lunch spot minutes before we arrived and then filling a picnic table with fantastic breads, meats, cheeses and fruits. We would eat as much as possible to restore energy and load our tailpockets with more than we could possibly eat during the rest of the day's ride.

Thanks for following us - we'll see you on our next adventure.

Kenny and Michelle

New Mexico

9 hours from Paris to Atlanta, 5 hour layover and then on to Albuquerque. We stopped in Santa Fe at Marias to repatriate with some Margaritas (the best in the world) and green chile enchiladas and then finally made it home after 24 hours of traveling. Back to work the next day. Ugh!

Paris

For our last day in France, we opted for a more technological locomotion. We hopped on the TGV (train à grande vitesse) and shot through the French countryside at almost 200 mph to arrive in Paris in the early afternoon. On the Champs Elysees we ate mussels and french fries (frites, en Francais) and ended up at the Louvre after the museum closed. Mona Lisa was already asleep, so we visited the Eiffel Tower at sunset and finished the night at Notre Dame. We felt like typical tourists, but in Paris, that seems to be the norm.

The Med

This was our final day of riding and we were sad to see it end. We finally got to reap the rewards of the past several days of climbing and shifted into the big chainrings. Each "col" we crossed today was lower than the last and several were entirely downhill from one to the next. We got our first glimpse of the Mediterranean from about 40 kilometers away and then rode through mostly flat vineyards to Collioure. It seemed like an easy day, but we still did over 3000 feet of climbing. The group stayed together all day and finished with a quick dip in the Mediterranean. The fish dinner baffled the Americans, but we countered with plenty of sangria and finished the evening with crepes and hard cider. Au revoir mes amis!

Col de Pailheres

Another monster day yesterday with almost 12000 feet of climbing. 87 miles over 7 cols. The last 18 miles into Prades were all downhill with at least a 5% grade. Mon Dieu! Today is our last day of riding - should be an "easy" 66 miles.

Ridiculous

Our trip is going great, but we have had trouble getting Internet connections and having time to use the computer. Our Tourmalet day was far beyond our wildest dreams. 75 miles over three big cols and 12000 feet of climbing. The scenery puts anything in Colorado to shame. The days before and after have not been much easier and today will be another big one. We hope to catch up soon. Thank God for triples!