Oliver & Lasswell Travel Blog: French and Spanish Pyrenees with Sierra Sports & Tours

American Airlines Sept 8, 2024. SMF--> PHX--> LHR (London Heathrow) -->LHS (Toulouse)

There isn't much to say about the trip out to France. Our good friend Andrae McClain helped us out by getting us to the airport (he's helped us out with these trips more than once).

Mr. McClain

Linda at SMF with her "Flat Patches" travel partner

We flew American Airlines from Sacramento to Phoenix, from Phoenix to London/Heathrow, and finally British Airways from London to Toulouse. The trip was uneventful. No delays. No drama. The food was terrible--both on the plane(s) and at the airports. It's not like it was 10 years ago where the food on Air France and British Airways was actually very good and they offered snacks throughout the trip. Now the attendants hardly acknowledge you, don't interact except on the most perfunctory level.

We arrived in Toulouse on 9/9. A bus picked us up at noon on 9/10 to take us to our first hotel in Bagneres-du-Luchon, Alti Hotel. The only delay was waiting almost 90 minutes for the Marriott courtesy van to show up.

Our first riding day was Wednesday 9/12. The rental bikes were brought up from Madrid by Jorge Izquierdo, our support staff from Sierra Sports & Tours (SST). Super cool man, indulges me by allowing me to practice my Spanish with him. He claimed that my Spanish was pretty good. I think he may have just been being nice.

Linda brought her own bike, I rented on--a Orbea Avant M30. Originally, when Paul d'Andrea, the owner of SST, mentiong the bike I was pleased given the nearly identical stack & reach measurements of the Orbea compared to my own bikes. Plus Orbea is a well-known brand. Interestingly, SST asked for three specific measurements from our existing bikes: center of bottom-bracket to the top of the saddle, tip of the saddle to the middle of the handlebar, and center of the front wheel to the center of the handlebar. The bike I received--none of the measurements I'd provided were carried over. I don't know why they bothered asking. The bikes are not maintained particularly well. The drivetrain on my bike was filthy. The stem's head cap. . . you know, that thing that holds the handlebar in place. . . was missing a bolt (supposed to have 4, there were 3). For the price we paid I guess that's what we get? Seriously, the trip is a relative bargain. . . if there's a weak link to SST it's the upkeep of the bicycles they provide and the difficutly of matching up the measurements of one's own bike to the rental. Up until this trip, the two other times I've rented (at Gabicce Mare in Italy) the bikes had turned out to be quite good. Even if I was unimpressed on first sight. Here, on this trip, I think it has changed my mind about bringing my own bike v. renting.

The bike feels heavy, as in it rolls like it's stuck in sand. On descents it's a nighmare. It shimmies from barely noticeable to totally out of control. I get cold on descents and I tend to shiver. The bike takes that shivering input and magnifies it 1000x. I have ZERO confidence on descents on this thing. It's a dangerous bike. I can't do much about it at this point other than, perhaps, renting a different bike in each town we visit. On the few days when we ride from one hotel to the next I have no choice but to ride the Orbea. I'll simply have to try to bring more clothing for the descents so I don't shiver and send the bike's front end shaking itself into a tree with me on it. It's super dangerous.

On top of that, my positionin on the bike KILLS my lower back and it was bothering my shoulders (actually my deltoids). I did raise the bars abotu 2 cm (which was all I could do since the steerer has never been cut and it needed three 2 cm spacers to close the gap between the top of the head tube and the stem. It looks ridiculous. But at least I do understand why they haven't cut it since the bike can't be sized just for me and me alone. They have to be able to use this thing with a variety of people. Still, if they'd put a little more time into keeping the thing clean and in good working order it would pay dividends, I think, for them when they do rent bikes out.

I think that they poo-poo the sizing--much like I experienced with the Italians. Bike fit is a critical matter and to not have a way to match the rental up to what one is used to risks injuries--back and knees being the most likely problem areas. So, yes, I do believe they need to step up their game in this area. Perhaps the mjority of their clientele doesn't care?

The first riding day a fellow named John Slavonic and I rode the Col du Portillon from Bagneres-du-Luchon over into the Spanish town of Bossost and back and then finished it off with a 10.6 mile climb up to Superbagneres. The bike scared the crap out of me on the three descents of the day--sucked all of the fun out of it. All told abhout 47 miles and 8,000 feet of climbing.