TA-Racing

First of all the Macmillan Mean Machines would like to apologise for the delayed post but we were all bit tired to say the least after a gruelling first day on the road!

Day 1: 120miles and 2800m of ascent.

Start: 0900
Finish: 1900

So the first day kicked off with a leisurely stroll along the Atlantic coastline until we turned inland where the real fun began! The first Col of the day was a taster of what was to come and looking back now....a walk in the park at 5k with 5% inclines. The day then went on and on.....and on and then to top it all off after riding for 105miles in 30 degree heat we hit the hardest climb in the Pyrenees. The Col de Marie Blanque was 10k in distance but with inclines of 14% ...... Absolute hell but we all made it to the finish (please note: Bayley stopped twice....muscle cramps or something!!!) followed by a swift descent into the village below where we stayed for the night.

Day 2: 60 miles and 3000m of ascent.

Start: 0900
Finish: 1735

Today was all about the climbing Toure de France style with two iconic mountain passes frequently used in the tour. We started with the Col d Aubisque (ignore the spelling of these Cols...I'm without my guide and very tired!) which we hit at 0915 so great warm up!!
The Col was 16km with 5-10% inclines taking us approximately 1hr 45m to climb. I should mention now that Bayley did do pretty well on this mountain.....you could say with the double stop yesterday he wanted to prove he could do it. ......Michael and myself were so proud!

The next MASSIVE climb was the Tourmalet at 18km (actually climbing 10k before the start) with gradients of 4 - 13%. We were all feeling the heat before the start but with the motivation of your donations we pushed through the pain barrier for 3 hours and made to the top. We were then rewarded with a super-fast descent hitting speeds in access of 45mph.......well Michael was anyway! I did do a couple of camper vans on the way down though.

Anyway its time for dinner now and I have been writing for a while so enjoy the essay people.

Please visit www.velopeloton.com/ and you will be able to see some of the pictures our tour guide has taken over the last couple of days. We will get some up but having a few issues uploading.

Hope you enjoy the post and as alway keep donating

Cheers
MMMs