Ride Day 12—22 Sept 2005—65310 Odos (Tarbes) to 65250 La Barthe-de-Neste

<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial;">We started the day at maybe 325 meters in Odos and ended around 650 meters in La Barth-de-Neste.<span> </span>In between, with a very few exceptions, we were constantly climbing or descending…time-wise, of course, mostly climbing.</span>

<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial;">This was pretty much all outstanding low traffic road through some absolutely beautiful country in the shadows of the Pyrénées…riding at its best.<span> </span>The worst climb of the day was on D26 just after leaving Pouzac.<span> </span>My wife’s slowly deteriorating eyes had not seen the double-arrows on the map so she wasn’t expecting such a slope.<span> </span>She made it, though with some grunting along with each pedal stroke.<span> </span>She likened it to what some tennis players do as they hit each ball.</span>

Background:<br /><br /><br />My wife and I have been doing self-supported tours in Western Europe (a majority in France) since 1993.  This series of rides covers our 2005 2 month route through parts of France.  Our beginning and ending point is near Chaduri (south of Angoulême) where our friends have a farm with Gites and Chambres d'Hotes.<br /><br /><br />We rode our Dawes touring bicycles purchased in 1993 heavily loaded with 700Cx32 tires.  All of our riding was on paved roads, mostly with very little traffic.<br /><br /><br />If any questions, feel free to email me at jeffkadet@netdiving.com<br /><br /><br />Jeff