That's crazy!" The well-fed woman behind the counter puffs out her cheeks like a frog and rolls her eyes menacingly. "The Pyrenees by bike?" Well, if you look at the landlady of the small hotel not far from Biarritz, there's no doubt that such an endeavour is beyond her capabilities. But to declare others crazy because of it? That's perfectly normal in the land of the Tour de France, where cycling - and especially the strenuous variety - doesn't seem to be an alternative to their tranquil lives for most of the inhabitants.
The afternoon before, we had solemnly zeroed our bike computers and glanced at the Michelin maps, watched by the beach crowd at the glamorous "Grand Plage" in Biarritz, between the casino and stately villas: The route, which is more than 800 kilometres long, is marked in yellow and winds its way across three complete map sheets. Fortunately, the almost 18,000 metres of elevation gain are not so easy to spot.
You can find the Pyrenees crossing from Biarritz to St Cyprien in the PDF download.
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