Col de Marie Blanque

 

Hotel de l'Ours where I spent the last two nights is very bike friendly and also environmentally conscious. A great combination. Clearly cyclists know about it, because this morning there were 7 bikes in the office, and the owner told me they have had over 20. My front tire has had a slow leak, so before leaving I decided it was time to add air. It instantly went totally flat ... a broken valve. We walked over to the bike store, where they replaced the tube, filled it up, and sent me on my way. So I still have my spare, and now a firm front tire. It was later than I wanted by the time I left, though.

The ride across the D918 from Arette to the N134, was pretty, and flat. I thought about what I wanted from today's ride: beautiful rolling country, or a seriously steep climb that I thought might turn into a lung-splitting grind. Either climb Col de Marie Blanque from the west, or continue across just below it, which I knew as a beautiful rolling ride with some climbing and some fun descents from last year. Last year I climbed Marie Blanque from the east, the easier side and since then I have read account after account of how much tougher the west ascent is. Intimidatingly tough, I've read. Fearfully tough, I've read. I wasn't looking forward to a climb as hard as the Cols d'Iraty had been, especially starting late in the morning and anticipating climbing Aubique and Soulor tomorrow. On the other hand, if my memory of the climb up the east side was accurate, it would make a fabulous descent. I got to the intersection, thought hardly at all, and turned towards Spain. Over the top I'd go. When it came time to make the turn, all that thinking was just silly overthinking, there really wasn't any doubt about the decision.

The N134 is a busy main road but there was a good shoulder for bikes, and I wasn't on it long, maybe 5km. Turning east in Escot, the climb begins immediately, but gradually. The percent of grades to the top are: 2, 4, 5, 5, 8, 11, 9.5, 13, 12, 13. Perhaps because the easy grades start the climb, perhaps it was all in the shade, perhaps it's a head game, or I'm stronger, but ... it was never lung-breaking hard. I suppose I found a rhythm, never fast, but a rhythm, and just rode up the mountain. The success felt good. Also those grades may never have included much steeper sections. I noticed on both cols the other day that every single descending car smelled strongly of brakes. It is a distinctive smell, either asbestos, or something much like it.  No descending cars did today. That is going to be my new measure of steepness:  the smell of descending cars.

There were a few people on top, lounging in the sun or hiking. A few bikes came and went. And then a Garmin team van came up and parked on the side of the road, not in the parking places. The two men in it were speaking American English, and they stayed in the van, didn't get out to stretch their legs, look around, or do anything at all. It seemed odd, but I wasn't going to go over and ask. After a bit, a cyclist ascended fast, as in f.a.s.t. They jumped out, did something quickly, and he was on the way down the other side. The van followed soon afterwards. I have no idea what it was about, but it was fun to watch.

There is a monument on the top to the Spanish and French resistance fighters against the Nazis. History is never far away here. This particular plaque reminded me of the Basque fighters and smugglers during WW2.

 I stayed on top, eating my lunch, walking around a bit, enjoying the feeling of the sun on the back of my neck, not wanting to leave. I knew I wouldn't have a problem making it to the hotel at a reasonable hour. When the comfortable, relaxed feeling became one of "time to take a nap in the sun," I knew it was time instead to move.

The descent was breathtakingly beautiful, fast but never white-knuckle riding. Headed in the opposite direction, the views are very different than on the ascent last year. The Plateau de Benou is beautiful, flat or rolling high pasture with many hiking trails. There were also a few  camping cars and people sitting in lawn chairs reading while horses and cows graze around them.



From Bielle at the bottom of the mountain I followed the little road, the D240, up the Ossau Valley to Laruns, before returning to the D918 to Eaux-Bonnes, where I stay tonight. The ride from Laruns brought the beginning of the climb to Aubisque. This shouldn't have surprised me, but somehow it did. I guess the question is: where do climbs start? I missed the official sign. Gerry, this may look familiar from the Etape. But I promise, I ride it slowly.

Eaux Bonnes (good waters) is a spa town, which was probably at its peak of popularity in the 19th century, when people, frequently including royalty came from around Europe for the spa. It is still popular, and there is still a spa, but a number of the fine old buildings are for sale and there is definitely the feel of faded grandeur.

Tomorrow I'll climb Col d'Aubisque. The Cirque du Litor promises to be beautiful and links it to the Col de Soulor. I leave you with a photo of the interior of my hotel.

Next Post

Interview with Veronica and Colin Scargill

Veronica and Colin Scargill are cyclists I met on Col de Marie Blanque, in France in September 2011, when they were crossing the Pyrenees on a tandem and I was doing the same thing solo. The two of them made an indelible image in my head .... I was impressed at their traveling through those beautiful mountains on a loaded tandem and very much enjoyed visiting with them, partly because their enthusiasm and enjoyment of the world around them was infectious. We met again by chance two days later on Col du Soulor. I had ridden up the route from the north, they came over Col d'Aubisque. I am tickled to be able to interview them for this series.




Have you always ridden tandem?
We bought a tandem in 1971 soon after we were married. Colin has always been a stronger cyclist than Veronica so it made sense to combine our efforts. 

My instinct is that tandem riding seems much harder, though I don't know anything about it. Would you tell us a bit about the physics of it.
Tandems are generally faster downhill, because of the combined weight, but slower uphill depending upon the fitness of the riders. The two riders are known as steersman and stoker. There are no specific problems in cornering, but it does need a fair degree of adjustment to ride effectively together, so that the pedals turn with the same effort. We have the pedals sightly adjusted so that the stoker's pedals reach the top before those of the steersman. We do know couples who have never mastered the art of riding a tandem. Indeed some would say that the best stoker is someone who has never ridden a solo. We use hub brakes because with the extra weight of two people on two wheels, rim brakes can become very hot and we have burst tyres as a consequence. 

I am guessing that tandems might be much more popular in England than in the US, because I have met other English cycle tourists on tandems in France and virtually never see them in the US ... are they used often there?
There is an international tandem club, with members in U.S. but even in this country we attract comment as an unusual sight. In the U.K. efforts are being made to increase cycle use, and that will increase cycle touring. It could be that on the back of Olympic success and Tour de France success for British cyclists there is more interest. However in the U.K. the motorist is very dominant. It is hard to ease people out of their cars. A fair number of motorists feel cyclists have no place on the roads for which they think they pay with road tax. This is a myth since highways and roads are maintained through general taxation. The anti-cyclist motorist cannot see that by riding a bike there is less congestion on the roads, and a great savings in health bills. Moreover a bike is generally non polluting.

That attitude is common in the US also. Many motorists don't seem to understand or care that cyclists also pay for the roads through our tax dollars, and we have an equal right to use them! On a personal note I seem to remember that you ride without helmets....maybe not.... but was that a choice, or just what you do?
No, we choose not to wear helmets, since there is no purpose served, and the case has not been proved. Indeed we often think that it would make more sense for motorists to wear helmets since most head injuries occur to people in motor vehicles. 

Have you toured in England, if so where?
We have toured in U.K. notably in Derbyshire and Norfolk. And when the children were young we took them on cycle tours using a combination of child seats, "kiddi-cranks" and tandem or solos as needed.


Where else have you toured?
We went to Ireland one summer which we all enjoyed. Before the children we did tours in France, and in what was then Yugoslavia, and from Feb. 1974 – August 1975 we toured right around the world starting in New York. 

I had no idea! So, I googled you, and learned that your trip, finished on August 27, 1975, logging18,020 miles around the world, set an international record for touring on a tandem. That is an amazing trip, I'd love to learn more about it someday. Very very cool! Has your touring style changed since then?
In the early days we would camp carrying the tents and other gear with us or use Youth Hostels. These days we use Youth Hostels when available, but B&B sometimes as well, which gives a different perspective and needs a degree of adaptability since they can be so variable. 
 
I ride as a solo woman, you ride a tandem, but in some ways, the same questions pop up frequently ... the advantages of riding solo or with others, travelling as a solo woman ... or for that matter, solo man.
As to riding as a single woman, there are some famous precedents, Dervla Murphy being the one who comes to mind first, but there are several others. I suspect that the biggest problem is not so much the gender as the ability to maintain the bike, at least that would be Veronica's problem. She cannot even mend a puncture effectively. 

We met Heinz Stucke in 1975, touring alone all over the World. He had been on the road about 19 years when we met him, and we heard of him a few years ago still riding. He said that there were advantages and disadvantages to riding alone. For a man he could be seen with some suspicion whereas Colin accompanied by a woman was less threatening. But for a female cyclist this probably would not apply.


I knew vaguely of Heinz Stucke before you mentioned him, and just found this quote from his web site "...[my first]  trip was extended a bit longer than I expected, and a year and a half after my departure I decided to return to my hometown to work, marry, have children ... in short, all those things that one assumes one has to do. But after a year, I realized that was not what I wanted and not what I expected from life. On the 4th of November 1962, I took my bike and started a wonderful journey that has not yet reached its end."  That was written after 48 years of pedalling and 20 passports! 

I remember your saying to me something like you popped over to ride ... or some such... that made me sort of insanely envious! Would you compare touring in England and France? What draws you to France?
Riding in France is much preferable to that in the U.K because the French have a very different attitude to cyclists, and take pride in their cycling heritage. In defense of the U.K. motorist, it is true that French drivers have more room and that French roads are generally well maintained, even the most remote areas. Another personal reason to choose to tour in France is the language. Veronica speaks French moderately well having first been to France more than 50 years ago and frequently since then. 

After our interview, I learned that besides climbing Col de Marie Blanque (1035m) and Col du Soulor (1474m) last September you also rode up Col d'Aubisque (1709m) Col du Tourmalet (2115m) Col d'Aspin (1489m) and Col de Peyresourde (1568m) These are all famous Tour de France climbs and absolutely inspirational! I can't wait to go back and hope that we might meet again in the mountains of France. Your cycling story has been inspirational to me and spurs me on to try ever more ambitious climbing! Thank you so much for taking the time to do this. 

Pyrenees Tour: Col de Marie-Blanque

This is the very best, the absolutely best, way I know to really have some fun. Eat breakfast, leave the panniers in the hotel room (Hotel L'Ayguelade, in Bielle) and ride up the Col de Marie-Blanque!





Security for me today was finding a place  to buy a sandwich and chocolate bar in Bielle before starting up. Breakfast was good, but it was French, and I knew I'd need food. I have many friends in the States who have travelled in France and love it, who just can't believe that there is anyplace without a cafe, bistro, probably a very good restaurant if you just look. They know Arles, Aix-en-Provence, Avignon. For me, I was thrilled that the bakery would make me a sandwich. But I'm again diverted.







The entire ride was absolutely gorgeous and fun, fun, fun. I suppose my more or less constant riding of the hills (and one we name mountain) at home stood me in good stead. I didn't ride up fast (but then I only do that downhill,) but I never felt that familiar ok-I-can't-breathe-just-let-me-die-here feeling.






And I've been trying to train myself not to be competitive with myself, so when those (probably much younger, and always men) other riders passed me by, I didn't pick up the pace.



At one point the sign told me to be careful of the Canadian gates.These were cattle grates in the road, the kind hooved animals won't walk over. The next sign told me that one was responsible for one's own vehicle, that the animals might damage it. That gives you some context for the free-ranging cattle and horses on the Plateau.

The Plateau de Benou is said to offer some very good hiking, but I didn't stop to see. When I'm cycling, I really just want to be cycling. Limiting maybe.




I was thrilled to be on the top of this historic pass, so often climbed in the Tour de France. I probably never stopped grinning. I rode up the easier side, max grade 8% (that's the climb from the east.) The hardest part (and it wasn't so hard) of the climbing was at the bottom, still near the towns. After that, it just went up. I descended down the west side (steeper grades of 11,12%.) Both were fun, the descent was never exposed but always just fun and fast.





I met other cyclists on top. Spent a while chatting with an engaging couple on a tandem from England, who had "popped over" for two weeks. Wouldn't that be loverly. They were very fit, fun to talk with, and also hikers, happy enough pushing their tandem if need be. Tomorrow they expect to walk part of Col d'Aubisque, but to ride the rest of it. Inspirational and good on them. Riding a tandem in these mountains looks particularly hard to me.




Also met a couple from Australia, younger, doing the grand Pyrenees route. Cyclists are allotted ten days to do it properly.  They had started on the Mediterranean, and expected to finish in eight days. They were tired. Very tired. For some reason, both were wearing backpacks with gear. I asked him why not 4 panniers, he said there was enough weight on the bike already. I still didn't get it.





The cows in the road on the descent, most of the way down were also fun. They are a breed known as Blondes d'Aquitaine, and have been bred here since the 6th century, as beef cattle. It was for me a new kind of traffic jam.

My route turned back north and then back east That part of the ride was mostly forested, on small roads with almost no traffic. It must have climbed more than I noticed, because the ride back to Arudy was definitely downhill and a blast. There is a cafe in Arudy where I enjoyed a citron presse. Rode back to Bielle, and got here too early to stop, so explored the environs a bit.


Fabulous, fabulous day!!

And maybe I should have put this first in this post, but maybe I was still just too excited. Day 1 I intentionally omitted Ken and everyone else at the Arcadian Shop in Lenox from the people I thanked. That's because I wanted to thank them on my first big climb, figured they would like that. I wouldn't be here without their expertise, enthusiasm and encouragement. I wouldn't have my very cool, very fab, perfect bike Papillon, and my super panniers that kept everything bone dry, including this tablet, without a worry in those 2 days of rain. And thanks also to the entire bike shop for all that work getting my bike tuned up and ready to go ... If you're in the Berkshires go there, they're the very best!


NEXT