I have accepted a new cycling challenge this year: I will join a group of mid life crisers (read middle age men in lycra aka MAMILS) to cross the Pyrenees mountain range between France and Spain by race/road bike. In a fashion that a colleague described as the “most inefficient way” but that I prefer to call the most scenic manner thru the most beautiful mountains in the region.
The challenge is made out of 10 cycling days (or stages if you want to use fancy words) of around 150 kms per day, in a total of 1400 kilometers in distance and 17000 vertical meters of climbing. We will leave from Montpelier in the south cost of France and cross every important mountain worming our way to San Sebastián in the Basque Country in Spain.
A challenge of endurance both physical and mental that promises much in terms of personal achievement and camaraderie with my fellow riders. 9 guys that know each other in small sub groups of 2 or 3 but scarcely as a group, all connected by a single friend and a passion for road cycling. We will need to adjust to different levels of fitness and performance goals and the common goal of achieving our destination together.
Different from my last challenge 2 years ago, that I started telling people from the day the idea was born, this time I decided to wait to almost the last moment. The event will start on August 10 and we plan to arrive on August 23 with many memories, aching bodies and swollen pride. I will try to document most of the days and post here for your entertainment, sharing a journal of how things are going, my thoughts and what I expect to next days.
Coming next, how the training went, what are the stages and my thoughts about what might happen.
It is going to be great!
No comments:
Post a Comment