Climbing

I'm off to The Alps for a month in July to try some climbing and high speed descending. The origional plan was to bike pack in Norway, however a mate has offered accommodation in Tolouse and use of a van. Going to take a roadbike and hire a mtb.
Now I just have to start climbing some hills to build stamina. Cannot wait .... : )
 
About to fly home after 3 weeks in the Pyrenees and French Alpes. Amazing riding, 21000 meters climbed and some white knucked descents on wet roads. Money well spent : )
 
Hamsta said:
About to fly home after 3 weeks in the Pyrenees and French Alpes. Amazing riding, 21000 meters climbed and some white knucked descents on wet roads. Money well spent : )
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Careful, that starts to become addictive!
 
Awesome! I'm off in 2 weeks to do the Pyrenees and Alps Haute Route - so excited! Got a week in the Dolomites too! Gotta love long service leave :)
 
Nice ! Got a mate whos heading to the Alps/Pyrenees in 5 weeks. 21 climbs in 18 days planned, living out of a motorhome.
Offered me a spot but couldn't get the holiday slot off. Its a full itinerary with no rest days but hes been smashing the hills here hard training and wants to do all planned 21.
 
I was pretty fortunate in that there were only 4 days where it was too wet to descend safely in the Pyrenees and Alpes. Scenery is indescribably beautiful and the local people very accommodating. The only downside was a crash in the Pyrenees where I landed heavily on my shoulder (Doctor deferred x-ray as I had reasonable mobility in the joint ) that meant I was eating 200mg of neurophin and 2g of codeine a day so I could climb out of the saddle. Also experienced a near miss with an oncoming RV which saw me holeshot between the RV and the guardrail on the wrong side of a hairpin bend after I braked waaay to late and overcooked the corner.
I am 74kg and I was able to hit 87kmph on some descents. If I was a little braver I probably could have cracked 100kmph. The absolute highlight for me was descending through several dimly lit tunnels in the Alpes at 70kmph. Super scary the first few times then a super rush thereafter. Next year I am taking a bike running disc brakes and a extra set of alloy rims for some of the longer descents
 
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Hamsta said:
I was pretty fortunate in that there were only 4 days where it was too wet to descend safely in the Pyrenees and Alpes. Scenery is indescribably beautiful and the local people very accommodating. The only downside was a crash in the Pyrenees where I landed heavily on my shoulder (Doctor deferred x-ray as I had reasonable mobility in the joint ) that meant I was eating 200mg of neurophin and 2g of codeine a day so I could climb out of the saddle. Also experienced a near miss with an oncoming RV which saw me holeshot between the RV and the guardrail on the wrong side of a hairpin bend after I braked waaay to late and overcooked the corner.
I am 74kg and I was able to hit 87kmph on some descents. If I was a little braver I probably could have cracked 100kmph. The absolute highlight for me was descending through several dimly lit tunnels in the Alpes at 70kmph. Super scary the first few times then a super rush thereafter. Next year I am taking a bike running disc brakes and a extra set of alloy rims for some of the longer descents
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Sounds exciting ! My mate is a great climber, but very cautious descender. He's riding a Tarmac Disc so should be good with the braking. Lots of spares collected, spare rotors, spare pads ect.

Maybe I'll get a run over there in a few years time. Too many riding trips now my boys ride and race.
 
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