The Raid

Some time ago I read French Revolutions by Tim Moore, although inspired and somewhat amused by his account of his version of the TDF, it was the mention of a coast to coast ride that captured my imagination - The Raid Pyrenean. He mentioned a man, Nick Flanagan, who ran a B&B somewhere near a huge mountain and how helpful he was and that he was the font of all knowledge about this epic ride. In about 6 weeks I'm going to tackle this monster ride with Nick, who has proved to be very helpful and patient with panicked emails and worries. I also picked the brains of Graeme Fife, renowned cycling author, who conveniently lives round the corner from me in Kent. Graeme's book "Great Road Climbs of the Pyrenees" has become my bedtime bible.
The Raid originated in 1952 - although the dream started long before that in 1912 for an enthustiastic young French cyclist called Maurice Bugard who imagined a Pyrenean trip though the mountains which would link the Atlantic Ocean it was nearly 40 years later that his dream became a reality.
After the first world war, he had worked out a project, drawn the itinerary, assessed the mileage and calculated the differences in level – in total, 18 passes staggered over 710 kms for 11,000 meters of climbing. He worked for years to finalise his plans and in 1939 the war broke and he plan was abandoned.
In 1949 another cyclist Paul Mathis took up Bugard’s project again he attempted the first crossing from Hendaye to Cerbere with another cyclist They had to give up because of the heat. But in June 1950, Mathis lined up again for the start and managed to do the crossing from Cerbere to Hendays.
After Mathis's he put the finishing touches to his work. He designed with great care the badge that he wanted worthy of the event. He also drew a route maps, devised compulsory checking points, put in extra sign posts to compensate for the inadequacy of the official road signs and printed various documents, and in the spring of 1952, the organization of the “Raid Pyrenean” was ready to operate.
The basic rules are that you ride from Hendeye on the Atlantic Coast to Cerbere on the Mediterranean Sea in 100 hours or less.

Raid Profile

1 Col St Ignace 169 m, 2 Col Pinodeita 176 m, 3 Mont Urzumu 213 m, 4 Col d'Osquich 500m,5 Col d'Aubisque 1709m, 6 Col d'Soulor 1464m, 7 Col du Tormalet 2115m, 8 Col d'Aspin 1489 m, 9 Col de Peryresourde 1569 m, 10 Col deArres 797 m, 11 Col de Portet d'Aspet 1069 m, 12 Col de Port 1249 m, 13 Col du Puymorens 1915 m, 14 Col de la Perche 1570m, 15 Col Ternère 200m. There are 18 Cols on the route but 3 aren't listed because apparently they are pass by largely un-noticed!

Anyway there you go a little insight into what I'll be aiming for in July this year. I'll be recounting my training and the journey through these pages over the coming weeks, I hope you wont get bored.

The info in this post was cobbled together from various websites : http://www.dromaracc.co.uk/ http://www.bikepyrenees.com http://www.takenote.co.uk/cycle/ http://www.pyractif.com

Graeme Fife http://www.graemefife.com/ books available from http://www.rapha.cc/the-rapha-guide-to-the-great-road-climbs-of-the-pyrenees/

Tim Moore's French revolutions http://www.randomhouse.co.uk/minisites/frenchrevolutions/