We did a monster climb today into Spain. Holy crap.
There are some amazingly strong riders on this trip with us. We all managed to slug it out up and over some 15% and up sections of roadway into the lunar landscape of the French-Spanish border. Some of the tandem teams and other single riders have been churning out serious watts over these climbs the last 10 days. It’s been impressive to say the least. Some are in their 70s and keeping pace with us over the course of the day(s). It’s been really fun to get to know all these people from all over the world. There are several Americans, Canucks and a couple Aussies. Everyone has been a blast to hang with on and off the bike.
So after hammering away on the Col de La Pierre St. Martin we started to descend into Spain and I had another freaking tire explode. I’m so pissed off at these Schwalbe tires. I had a pair of them for all of last season and the spring this year and never had an issue. Even racing in the Roubaix and Koppenberg in Boulder County on dirt roads. I don’t know what the deal is, but today could have been really bad. The rear tire blew up on the sidewall on a somewhat flatter section (6%) at about 30 mph. I managed to keep the bike upright, but then the tube got sucked into the cassette and locked up my drivetrain. After shaving off a section of my rim I got everything to a stop and waited for the van. Again. I managed to find a file and smooth out the rim as much as I could and put on Kristin’s spare tire that we brought over. Luckily it’s a different brand. So tomorrow we ride back into France and the town we are staying for a couple days has a bike shop that I can go get a replacement for the front wheel, so I can ride with a bit more peace of mind instead of waiting for it to explode as well.
Other than all that noise, today was a really hard ride, but epic in terms of scenery. Holy crap. It’s amazing here. Now th only issue is that we won’t be able to eat until late because the Spanish don’t believe in eating before 10pm. So I’m off to finish my fifth beer in an attempt to chill out after the stress of rolling on worthless rubber. Kind of like driving an Explorer equipped with Firestones circa 2000.
-JL
