#4 "Sore legs were all she wrote". So, last Saturday, I attempted the Toulouse-Andorra-Toulouse-thing once again. Conclusion: again it was a complete flop! That thing is godawful!

I aborted my last attempt 3 months ago, after being passed by cars packed with skiers. It seems the pass was still covered with snow. Abort.

This time conditions were optimal: +77F/+25C degrees, hardly any wind, I left, almost on time, at 7:20am and had a pot of noodles beforehand. I still arrived at the entrance of the pass too late. My watch read 3pm. Too late! Why? The tough part isn't the 217m/350km ride, or the pass at 7900ft/2408hm. NO, it's the shortage of provisions. There are hardly any gas stations or supermarkets and those that are there are only open til 7pm, and I'm not putting a basket on my bike!

Oh well, I'm 186/300 of unnecessary miles/kilometers richer…

I'll tackle the thing again this Saturday and leave at 5am. If it doesn't work out, I'm quitting. So there!

It shouldn't be this difficult, damn it!!!
The bare facts:
about 211m/340km overall, divided into a 77.6m/125km approach, on a gentle incline, to Ax Les Thermes, 15.5m/25km with a slope of about 5% to 4593ft/1400hm right after Ax and, from there, another 12.4m/20km of incline on the pass up to 7900ft/2408hm and then you do all that nonsense again on the way back. Til next week for #5,

Thomas