Four Passes, Three Climbs, Two Beers and Won Race

Today was a mega one and one of our favourites. It included Roxanne starring in another cycle race, various passes, some rock climbing, a bar, a sunset and pervs.

I know, it’s quite a lot to take in so we’ve broken it down:

 

Worship the rock

We initiated our new ‘morning breakfast climbing club’ with a few warm-ups before our long day of cycling ahead.

 

Passing away

This was our biggest day of cycling yet: 95km, four passes, 1500m of ascent and having to put up with yet another day of each others’ company. We had wanted to photograph the bottom of each valley but every town we passed through had a funeral going on; must be something about Tuesdays. Our intention, therefore, changed to document each pass with a photo for your enjoyment. Unfortunately Alex got waylaid in a bar at the top of one pass so we forgot to photograph the third one. Once again we stayed till closing time meaning our fourth pass was reached in darkness.

 

Cheered on by the Gods

It just so happens that, while our pilgrimage runs from west to east, the rest of cycling’s elite have been making their way in the wrong direction in the Trans Pyrenees cycling race.

We exchanged volleys of “vamos!” as we wound our way along the heavenly hairpins of the N-260.

“VAMOS!”

 

A heavenly spot

Reaching our third col of the day at six in the evening, it was understandable that Alex was easily sidetracked by the whiffs of cool beer bubbles coming from an unassuming shed by the side of the road. The place had lovely vibes of a beach bar, only without the beach.

Said shed, however, was none other than the abode of Thor, mountain god from Iceland. While the bearded giant poured cold beers (and coke for the pilot of course), his earthly mistress, Yolanda, busied herself in the garden, collecting fresh vegetables for our dinner. Merlin, demanding eggs, forced Yolanda to steal from their neighbour in order to satisfy his insatiable hunger #wheresthebread #breadandbread

A reminder…