We arrived Thursday morning and spent 2 days in Pau sightseeing and trying to get acclimated. Friday we drove up to the border of Spain and had lunch at the top of a beautiful mountain pass in the Pyrenees.

Today we checked into our gite in Viscos, a tiny mountain town with beautiful views. It was quite foggy today so I couldn’t get any decent pictures of the view but will definitely post those later.

We did our first ride of the trip, up to Luz Ardiden. I went the back way from the gite, and Jonathan, Matt and Tim rode into town and rode up a different way. It was incredibly foggy for the last 3 km. I could hear cow bells all over (cows roam freely here) but I couldn’t see them until I was right next to them. Needless to say it made descending very tricky.

I felt good, except for an issue with my derailleur which kept me in one gear only, and of course it wasn’t my easiest one! I couldn’t downshift to stand because it wouldn’t go back into the easier gear so I sat and had to grind away the entire climb. It felt like I was being punished, yet it was enjoyable because I was riding a beautiful road in France.

Here’s a picture at the summit from today, and the one below is from 2 years ago. Quite a difference!

Tomorrow will be a little tougher ride, up Hautacam, another ski resort with super steep roads. Guess I should put the wine glass down and get some rest!!