It tears at your soul and leaves a stain upon your heart

Bikes can get surprisingly dirty. It's only when you take some of their components apart, like pedals, wheels, saddle, bars, bags, that type of thing, you realise how much grime gets into the nooks and crannies of your frame.

That's what I discovered tonight anyway. I had to dismantle the bike, to get it into the box to get it on the plane back from Toulouse, the airport, 120km from Bertren in Haute-Garonne, the foothills of the Pyrenees. Where Bunny and I went cycling last weekend.

Halfway through Day One, as we cowered in the shelter of a dodgy bus shelter on a fairly main road, already soaked to the skin, and hoping that the rain would just stop for five minutes till we turned onto a back road, that's where we accumulated most of the grime. It would be easy to get disillusioned at that point. We'd been going for some hours and covered a fair amount of ground, two mountain passes, Col de Mente and Portet d'Aspet. And we'd met some local tramps with their hungry dogs, and passed the site of Luis Ocana's "Tragedie dans le Tour de France" in 1971.

Nice and paved now with the grit and gravel not much in evidence. In fact, despite all the rain, the roads were a joy to be on, not potholes, barely any stones, and even a cheery "courage" from the road makers on the Mente. You wouldn't get that on Winscombe Hill, never mind a 6km climb at 8%.

Just after we stopped riding for the day, with all our clothes stinking and drying in the yard of our lodgings, the sun came out. We are truly badass, for riding close to 8 hours in the wet, over some gorgeous scenery, and pretty villages. Charlie was not reliable so I have had to put the routes together retrospectively, but they are accurate:

http://ridewithgps.com/routes/674931

So five cols (even the minor ones are harder than most things in the UK, so I'm counting them), the two big ones mentioned above and Larrieu, Buret and des Ares, together with about 86 miles, made for a solid first day.

Saturday was brutal and beautiful all at the same time. One of the most delightful mountains it has been my pleasure to ride up, Port de Bales, followed by pizza in Luchon, and then Superbagneres, no "i". Did you ever watch Goldfinger? Then you will remember the scene where he's driving his DB5 over the switchbacks on the mountain road. That is like Superb, a brute of a climb, with virtually no hiding place. Col de Bales on the other hand was idyllic, peaceful, wonderful views and also long and tough, and only the best is good enough.

As you can see I was wearing my fab new HTC outfit, and Bunny was pretending to be some french bloke. In relative terms I was Cavendish to his Voeckler I think, only Cav is considerably faster than us both up mountains.

It's a different type of cycling, this mountain business. I think it helps if the scenery is gorgeous, and the road is tranquil, but I have to find a rhythm I can sustain for 90-120 minutes, keep breathing and just enjoy it for what it is. I even started to let go a bit on the descents, although Bunny was considerably less cautious than me.

Once back down from Super B, we abandoned any further thought of more mountains, and high-tailed the 18 miles back down the valley road to Bertren. Only something had happened to Bunny, he kept falling off the back and was feeling very cold and fragile. Not enough food! So just for once I did him a favour and he sat behind me for most of the way back down the road. Another 70 miles in the bag, and some respectable climbing given we had two HC climbs that day.

http://ridewithgps.com/routes/674945

Next morning Bunny was as bright as a button, whilst I was feeling a bit crevee, so he towed me for much of the day. We started with a flattish 40km to Arreau, then climbed another beautiful col, the Hourquette d'Ancizan, before descending to the base of the Aspin. From Payolle, it's only 5km (at around 7%) to the top.  Down the Aspin to Arreau, late lunch and back the way we came.

It was also very hot and sunny, and we were rewarded with some stunning views from the top of both passes, all the way to the Tourmalet in one direction, and all the way to the Peyresourde in the other. Neither of which were we tempted to climb.

Charlie was working and recorded it in two stages:

http://ridewithgps.com/trips/373951


http://ridewithgps.com/trips/373950

I think we ended up doing 80 miles on Day 3, so around about 238 for the weekend. The maps say 29k of climbing all told, but I'm suspicious, it was probably less. But even though we had planned to do more climbing, I think we acquitted ourselves well enough, and stayed on the right side of the enjoyment/brutal side of things.

Read Bunny's account here:

http://monmarduman.blogspot.com/

The Hourquette was a real treat too, very quiet, twisty, with some shade and also great views of the valleys below, and cliff-side roads that made for a wonderful climb. But the Bales was my favourite climb of the trip. It had that quiet air of serenity, whilst still being long enough and tough enough to make it a challenge. SuperB was not my cup of tea, just a bit too manufactured, and being an "up and back" to a ski station, it's impossible to make a loop out of it. I'm never going to like that.

 The Aspin descent back to Luchon was a highlight too. Last time we did it, it was pouring with rain, and in 12 kms we were bone-chillingly cold, despite full winter gear. This time the warm and dry made for a thrilling ride down, and I did my best to restrict my braking. It was fun.

Our hosts for the trip were PyrActif, and were totally superb. Great food, lovely accommodation, and above all, knowledgeable and friendly, without being all over us. Check out their site if you are considering a cycling holiday in the Pyrenees, they were pretty close to perfect for what we wanted.

http://www.pyractif.com/

So now I'm back, and life is, well life. The mountains are a different world really. I know I'll never be a great climber or descender, but I love cycling up them mainly for the challenge, the beauty, the tranquility, and the solitude that comes from a single point of focus; just keep turning the pedals. And like Miley says, "it's not about how fast I get there....."

Because I always do. In the end.