Mountains and the Mediterranean – Cycling in the Pyrenees

#cyclingvlog #pyrenees #cycling

Last summer I had the pleasure of spending a week with Pyrenees.cc in the village of Arles-Sur-Tech, situated in the Catalan Pyrenees. 5 days of fantastic all inclusive guided and supported riding with most of the cyclists that I rode with in Italy in 2022. While the climbs were challenging enough, they were eminently doable for the non racing snake / mountain goat cyclists amongst us, the descents were astonishing and the Mediterranean was hot ! Thank you so much Vicky and Chris for a truly amazing week. Check out https://www.pyrenees.cc, to see what they have on offer, you wont be disappointed if you pay them a visit.

Pretty special up here absolutely fantastic honestly don’t think I’ve ever ridden in heat like This hello and welcome to another episode of The Very sporadic ramblings of a middle-aged man in Lyra firstly happy 2024 to you this is a video that I should have produced months and months and months ago uh during the summer uh of 2023 I was fortunate enough to go and

Visit Chris and Vicky Baron of P.C so please go and check out the website uh with lonard Lee uh Charles Barbara Graham and Allan so a few of the people that we went on the cying trip to Italy with in 2022 in fact now uh for a

Week cycling in the Pyrenees the area of the Pyrenees that we were based in was around alch so um along the tech Valley uh and towards the Mediterranean side of the pyramid The terrain there was uh tricky enough but eminently doable for kind of a casual cyclist like myself or any other casual cyclist really it was would have probably been quite easier for those that that were very fit or the racing snakes amongst You but five days of cycling or five cycling trips seven uh 7 Days in total so a day traveling there 5 day cycling and a day traveling home That was brilliant as for the trip itself uh we flew into Jona or barcelon airport where Chris came and picked us up a few of us took our own bikes some hide e bikes out there some hide uh mechanical bikes out there I mean all bikes are mechanical but human power bikes out There every day we set off from uh from base so so the little Farmhouse that uh Chris and Vicki own and again fully C for uh biggy’s mom was there as well also cook meals for us as well really really nice just perfectly smooth ride absolutely [Applause] fantastic [Applause] Some days it was a round trip uh and some days we rode to a location and uh a support vehicle with a trailer uh fully kitted out for supportting for carrying bikes came out with this uh and brought us home moist [Laughter] the last one of the

Day nearly there the summit’s just up at the top We’re off to the Mediterranean about 12 120k Riding handy to have a vehicle around uh I think a few people would grateful of it on a on a few days um I know the last day um the last part of the last one was was tricky for a lot of of us so some of

Us opted to go up the very last part of the climb in the vehicle um some of us didn’t some of us did I was one of the ones that did I have to say but but you know discretion being a better part of valor and all that sort of Thing Which is a little bit more [Applause] Spot But but brilliantly eminently brilliantly organized beautiful beautiful surroundings as you’ll see uh fully supported um without further Ado let’s just press on and get on to the rides because I think you’ll see that the the scenery and the riding there is absolutely brilliant He Would I recommend it yeah absolutely say nip across to pan. CC and uh and have a word with either Chris or Vicki and can’t book a trip out there absolutely absolutely marvelous longest climb I’ve ever done 14k and we’re hitting some vicious grings but Sun’s shining I’m on my bike road is [Applause] Good C Thea [Applause] [Applause] [Applause] Just broke into a sweat like I was standing in a Sh What they need to ride to get up still coffe An absolutely blinding week’s riding the climbs themselves roads were perfectly smooth and gradients were always steady so actually when you found a place the climbs were were really good temperatures um hit something like 40° on suay so excruciatingly hot and and hard work I think that was probably the

Most challenging part about most of the rides with the temperatures some of the best hosts that you could possibly imagine U nothing was too much trouble and you actually felt like you were really part of the family when you were there full use of all their facilities and swimming pool

Everything else it was lovely so again can’t recommend uh going to going to visit uh Chris and VI Vicki enough really if you want to go and check them out visit panes docc uh and you’ll see all the details of of what they have to offer out

There if you enjoyed the content please feel free to like And Subscribe until next time thank you very much for watching uh and I’ll see you guys soon Che