A trip to France to cycle some climbs, eat great food, drink and catch a finish and ‘depart’ of Le Tour de France….what could be better?
And so with that, a trip was organised, accommodation was to be Les Source in St Jacques-des-Blats in the Cantal Department in the Massif Central region. I have skied and cycled this area so new it quite well. Arrive on Sunday evening, rides planned for 3 days, watching Le Tour finish at the ski station of Le Lioran on Wednesday and home on Friday would finish us off nicely!!
Sunday evening and our intrepid travellers start to arrive, Mike, Jon and I, Helena and Steve, Tracey and John and Mark G and Hass fill the B & B nicely, a beautiful evening on the balcony with the drink flowing, our hosts, Sandy and Ross getting used to the Tiptree banter and discussions and mild panic about the following days ride!
I have never undersold the hills in this region, they are shorter than the Alps but they tend to be a tad steeper in places, I’m sure that everyone had taken my advice and trained long and hard for the holiday but riding up Windmill Hill once or twice didn’t quite prepare the squad for the first days ride!
I had planned a ride up the Plomb de Cantal which is the main part at the top of the ski resort. A shortish 50 odd miles worked out to be quite a tough one with over 10000ft of climbing leading to some getting off and walking to get to the lunch stop! We re-grouped, took over the outside of the Restaurant and ate and drunk to re-charge the batteries. At this point, a few decided that it would make more sense to go back the way they had come as although the remaining part of the ride was planned, I had never ridden it before and was unsure of the difficulty. That turned out to be a good decision as the second half of the ride was just as hard if not harder!!
We returned to base late afternoon, showered and took to the balcony for round 2 of the drink-fest. Our 4 course evening meal was as usual superb and I would doubt if you could beat it in value for money. You would think that after the days riding we’d be tucked up in bed early but like a bunch of excited kids on a school trip, staying up late was the order of the day!
Day 2 of riding was the long ride up to Le Puy Mary (where Le Tour de France would cycle over the following day). We headed down to Aurillac where we met up with rest of the crew for some light refreshments in the Town Square prior to the start of the climb. From Aurillac it is a 42 km climb, the first 35 km are relatively (!!) easy and so we stopped at that point and had lunch (in true Tiptree Velo fasion, coffee stops are an essential part of riding a bike) to prepare us for the final 7 km assault. This was taken at our own pace as it gets steep in places but we all made it (eventually) and again re-grouped for photos and light refreshments. At this point I haven’t said anything about the descents. Climbing the mountains is tough, descending can be exhilerating but it can also scare the pants off you if you haven’t ridden at 50 mph for long periods of time. Now was that time!! About 30 km downhill was a whizz and we all made it down safely, some a lot faster than others. The remaining part of the ride was still on very undulating roads and in the heat of the afternoon took a lot out of people. John, Helena and Steve where a Godsend turning up on the sides of the road filling our water bottles up, true heroes!!! Like anything, i’d like to say it was all down hill from there but when you get to Le Lioran ski station, we cant ride through the tunnel and so have to climb the Col de Cere which after 70 miles didn’t go down too well. Still, from the top it is a 6 mile all downhill swoop! We stopped in the village bar in St Jacques , met up with everyone and drank ice cold beer, a beautiful end to day 2.
Day 3, another beautiful day and the Le Tour will be arriving in the afternoon. Our plan was to walk to the climb of the Col de Cere and find a good spot on a bend to view the race come by. In the morning Mike and I went out for a 30 mile ride for reasons that will become clear later, everyone else thought we were nuts!
We gathered our picnics and hiked up the road, it was further than we remembered, the rucksacks were heavier, the climb was steeper and the sun was a lot hotter as well, still cant complain! We found a good spot, a few of the guys decided to carry on further up the mountain and watch the race nearer the finish but our spot had a great view, grass to sit and some shade so it was ideal. The Tour ‘Caravan’ came pass dishing out its goodies that we ran after then ended up giving them to some French children who appreciated them a lot more (although their parents didn’t look too impressed). The race came by, we got some great photos and cheered everyone on. The good thing about hilly stages is that the riders get split up and they go slower so you see more of them over a longer period. On the way down it was ‘collect a Tour de France sign’ day and we returned to St Jacques with a few tucked under arms. Back on the balcony and liquid refreshment to help us recover from the days efforts.
Our final day of riding would see us ride into Aurillac, have some refreshments then go and watch the start of the stage of Le Tour. We got to see all the stars, the team buses, cars and bikes, but the high light was a young girl asking if her mum could have a photo done with me, fame at last! The remainder of the ride was on local roads, this caused a few problems as most were closed because of the race. We ended up going a bit further than was planned and wouldn’t have been so much of a problem if it wasn’t for the heat and lack of food establishments open! We had to beg and the old dear done us proud with half a brioche that we demolished washed down with bottles of coke and water. Mark G, after sitting on my wheel for 30 miles coming around me to take the village sign finished off the days ride, we again hit the local bar for some seriously well earned cold beer.
The Friday saw us loading up our cars for the return journey, some extending theirs with a scenic drive back, one, deciding that Mont Ventoux sounded like a good idea after all the fitness training!
Thanks to Sandy and Ross at Les Sources ( www.lessourcescantal.com ) for the heads up on the Tours visit and providing us with great food, drink, company and weather, to John for providing the back-up on rides which was invaluable and to everyone who came, hopefully its a few days you’ll remember.
PS. Mike’s additional ride on the Wednesday followed by the 65 miles on the Thursday bought his lifetime total mileage to 90000!! Hopefully 2017 will bring up his 100K