Cycling in the Pyrenees

Until now I am still waiting for my Bianchi bike. The bike shop said it could be end of this week but at the back of mind I thought more likely it would take a week or so at the earliest. So I'll just have to wait.

The Tour de France is into the end of its first week. It has been an exciting event so far this year with many surprising moments unfolded. The front runners are still very close with Contador, Armstrong and Wiggins amongst the contenders.

The mountain stages have been the ones to watch as always. These are the gruelling and physical stages. The one that top them all so far was the 7th stage from Barcelona to Andorra going up the Pyrenees. I spent a week in these part of the Pyrenees mountain many years ago. I remember the bus ride from Barcelona up to the mountains got some amazing views of the mountains and valleys. So watching the race yesterday, with the back drop that I am familiar with, I could felt the punishing and difficulty these guys felt. Yesterday's race length was over 200km long and they completed that in 6 hours. The last 80 or so kilometers was going uphill all the way and reaching elevation of over 2000 metres. These guys are real super humans.