At probably the height of my cycling fitness in retirement, I wanted to try a week long cycling journey in Europe and decided on an 8 day excursion across the Pyrenees, starting on the Med and ending on the Atlantic. I originally booked a guided trip with a luxury outfitter, and my wife had planned and secured all the travel arrangements, including a follow up trip hiking the GR10. However, that trip canceled due to not meeting the minimum number of participants, and I was in a bit of a quandary. That’s when we discovered Vélorizons, a French based service that offered the exact same itinerary over the same time frame we had already planned. Another bonus was the tour price was significantly cheaper than my previously booked luxe version. Although not billed as guided, the services offered were extensive…hotels, meals, and a dedicated guide (Valentin) who transported our luggage, arranged for dedicated lunch stops (or would pack a lunch for you), was always available for emergency service or bike repair, and was generally incredibly responsive to the needs of any of us 14 clients. I especially was grateful when I had to skip cycling on Day 6 in an attempt to recover from heat stress. I rode in the van and witnessed his careful shopping of fresh food for our lunch and was grateful for the history and local knowledge he shared with me throughout the day.

On 3 of our cycling days I wore my backpack, mostly as a means to record video (87 GB of 4K/60fps files). NOTE: the video is at the end of this post. I didn’t quite know what to expect, as I was the only US person in the group (but I did tag along with the two Aussies at times along the way). Without exception, everyone on this trip was extremely friendly, with French, Danes, Swiss, and German clients, along with aforementioned Australians. Although French was spoken at length of course, someone always filled me in on the topics and Valentin conducted all the meetings in English as the common language. Simply put, this was a wonderful group of fascinating people, and I believe I got more out of this eclectic mix of nationalities vice if everyone been from “The States.”

*Typical view of sparsely traveled roads near Le Port, France*

These would have been hard days even without the heat, but I was especially whacked over the first 4 days and had difficulty recovering in the evening, barely able to choke down the excellent evening meals. My stats for the first 5 days: Day 1: 70 miles/5700’ • Day 2: 70 miles/9400’ • Day 3 (last 40K): 24 miles/1200’ • Day 4: 58 miles/8000’ • Day 5 Queen Stage (Col d’Aspin and Col du Tourmalet): 47 miles/6400’ I was determined to do these classic climbs and teetered on the edge of heat stress, stopping frequently on the Tourmalet to douse my head in any available water and/or just sit for a few minutes in any shade that presented itself. It was both painful and exquisite at the same time, trying to push aside the suffering and just take in the surreal landscapes I was pedaling through. Valentin at one point came back to check on me to see how I was faring, but I finally caught up to the group and recovered somewhat on the downhills and flats for the rest of the day.

Day 7: Astounding day, with cool weather and unbelievable scenery. This day also had the hardest climb of the tour, the Col de Bagargi, so I was ecstatic to finally be back in climbing form, probably due to the cooler temperatures. One of the Aussies broke off for the harder route so I spent the day riding with his buddy Fabio.

This last day was from Estérençuby to St Jean de Luz (55 miles/4600’) and we all gathered for the farewell lunch near the beach. I had rented a bike so saw it loaded on top of the van, we all said our goodbyes, and I walked to my nearby hotel for the evening. The following day I would be off to Hendaye to continue my immersion in Basque country by hiking a week on the GR10…TBC!

*Our guide Valentin shopping for that day’s lunch*

More about Vélorizons; I packed my bike shoes, pedals, and helmet plus a Garmin Edge 540 and radar. I rented a higher end bike (which importantly had a 34 in the back for climbing) and was quite pleased with it. I’m sure the company has to tend to the brakes after these excursions because the steepness and twisting turns of many of these downhill sections required extensive braking. Vélorizons supplies you with an app with all the navigation, but if one elects to use this as the primary then ensure you have a mount for your phone. I loaded each day into my Garmin and that worked famously…almost too good because every climb that came up was displayed with all the color coded grades and constantly reminded you that yes, you have more 8 or 10 percent coming up. Sometimes it’s better not to know. As I mentioned, our guide Valentin was exceptional (although technically this was not a guided ride, as each rider was responsible for their own pace and navigation). His briefings were thorough, he was always available to answer questions, and we were all on WhatsApp and had a way to contact him at any time. I would not hesitate to recommend this company to anyone…many of the clients had done other trips with Vélorizons so were return customers…as will I, probably for an Alps transit, and hopefully enjoy cooler weather!