Brief History and Overview of the Tour.

This Pyrenees Cycling adventure was born from the culmination of my riding experience in the Pyrenees mountains. In my opinion if you want to conquer the Pyrenees on a bike then the "France From Inside" cycling trip is the way ! Coast to coast - Atlantic to Mediterranean - and back. When you complete this bike trip then you will feel fulfilled and you will be blown away.

Every sport has an event or competition that stands as its historic and defining challenge. I think most would agree that for cycling the “Tour de France” is that event, and that within the “Tour de France” the Pyrenees Mountains (and the Alps) are the portion of the race that is the most difficult and legendary. You and I will never compete in the “Tour de France,” but we can as amateur cyclists ride our bikes in the Pyrenees and experience the history, legends, and physical challenges.

I have ridden now countless times in the Pyrenees - I spend 4 months in France every year to visit family - and it was in the year 2006 that I put together this trip that would challenge a group of us to bike across the Pyrenees from coast to coast ( Atlantic to the Mediterranean ) and back (I've been doing this trip every year since 2006). I used my previous experience in the Pyrenees to create a course that would take us over some of the most famous climbs, and then I divided the route into 12 sections. The result was 8 days to cross the Pyrenees mountains from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean, and 4 days to come back to the starting point on the Atlantic, Biarritz; the return leg travels through rolling foothills of the mountains (in 2011 I reversed the loop from counter clockwise to clockwise). The result was and is still 12 days of some of the most beautiful and challenging riding you could ever imagine, in a country that I consider a fairytale playground for cyclists. The trip was eventually perfected to include 2 rest days, creating a riding routine of: 4 days riding - 1 rest - 4 ride - 1 rest - 4 ride.

Here then are the numbers - the riding stats:

• Total round trip mileage, approximately 1000 miles, total elevation climbed 100,000 feet.
• Total mileage to traverse the Pyrenees in 8 days, over the big passes and in the high mountains, 596 miles, and total elevation climbed 67,025 feet.
• The average day of riding in the mountains was 74.5 miles with 8491 feet of climbing, with the hardest day at 90 miles and 12,221 feet…5 passes in one day! Average ride time per day 5.5 hours.
• Total mileage to traverse in 4 days, through rolling hills terrain in the foothills of the Pyrenees, 418 miles, and total elevation climbed 24,963 feet. On the return leg average was 104.5 miles and 6,241 feet of climbing a day. Average ride time per day 6.5 hours.

Not bad! However, these numbers, as impressive as they may seem, do not provide the details of how hard, satisfying and magnificent the riding actually is. For that you have to come and do it yourself.

An amazing stat!! If you do the entire ride you will not travel/sit in a vehicle for 2 weeks, and yet you will cover/pedal 1000 miles. Personally I think that is incredible and very cool. Talk about "unplugging" from reality.

Oh, and the next time another cyclist tries to strut their stuff with some claim about a 4 day trip covering 300 miles you can say, "1000 miles, 100,000 ft, 12 days of riding - across the Pyrenees and back!"

" I've never worked so hard in my life, or smiled so much, especially during the 25 mile downhill. After each day, I kept thinking that the next day's ride couldn't possible be as fun as the ride just completed, but it always was, for 12 days straight."  Gordon Cavanaugh (completed the trip in 2006, 2010, 2014, 2017, 2019.  Ha! I guess you could say he's hooked).