Your guides will meet you in Collioure where our bikes are waiting for the week’s journey. After we’re all fitted, start cycling across the Pyrenees: you’ll have a chance to dip your wheel in the Mediterranean, or sacrifice a white bull to the gods before we climb 991 meters above sea level to the Col d’Aussières. This ride puts us well into the mountains where plenty of higher passes await. Rest and refuel at our peaceful mountain hotel to prepare for another big day tomorrow.

Meals: Lunch / Dinner
Destinations: Collioure, Sournia, Gincla
Accomplished: 77 miles / 124 km, elevation gain: 8,608 feet / 2,624 meters
Accommodations: Hostellerie du Grand Duc

Wake up and enjoy the tranquility of the French countryside. We still haven’t hit the big mountains just yet, and there probably aren’t a lot of 20-kilometer climbs like the one up to Col du Portet in your backyard. It’s only a 5% average grade, but no one will think you’re a hero for staying in your biggest chain ring, so save your legs. Enjoying the scenic castles, mountain villages, and 12,000-year-old cave paintings in Tarascon along the way is permitted. We are 100 kilometers closer to the Atlantic, but the High Pyrenees are looming.

Meals: Breakfast / Lunch / Dinner
Destinations: Puilaurens, Axat, Tarascon-sur-Ariège
Accomplished: 60 miles / 97 km, elevation gain: 5,937 feet / 1,810 meters
Accommodations: Manoir Agnes

Add three major climbs to your col-lection. Today, the elevation profile says it all: three big climbs followed by a long descent to Saint Lary. First up is the Col de Port (16 kilometers at a respectable 5%), then Col du Saraillé (9 kilometers at 3.8%). It may not be one you’ll brag about at home, but we refuse to overlook the middle child. These roads are unreal, and you’ll have plenty of time to reflect on why you never want to go home on the epic descent to our bed and breakfast.

Meals: Breakfast / Lunch / Dinner
Destinations: Seix, Castillon-en-Couserans
Accomplished: 59 miles / 95 km, elevation gain: 7,997 feet / 2,438 meters
Accommodations: Bed in Bellongue or Auberge de l’Isard

For the 2007 TDF, the tour organizers paved the last five kilometers of an old trail on the south side of Port de Balès to create this HC (beyond category) climb. Don’t let the easier grades at the beginning lull you into a false sense of security; this climb is 19 kilometers at an average grade of 6%, but the 12% ramps near the top are the real kicker. Be sure to refuel here because we still have the Col de Peyresourde to tackle. Tonight we’ll stay in Arreau, a quintessential French mountain town on the banks of the Louron.

Meals: Breakfast / Lunch / Dinner
Destinations: Saint Larry, Arreau
Accomplished: 68 miles / 109 km, elevation gain: 10,680 feet / 3,256 meters
Accommodations: L’Hotel d’Angleterre

The Tourmalet needs no introduction. Both feared and loved by cyclists, it’s the most frequented climb in TDF history. First up is the Col d’Aspin before hitting the approaches to the Tourmalet. If this isn’t enough, from Argelès-Gazost, at the bottom of the descent, you can add on the Hautacam, another HC climb, considered by many to be the toughest in the Pyrenees. Or you can drink a beer in town and rest your legs. (We won’t tell anyone. What happens on a journey, stays on a journey.)

Meals: Breakfast / Lunch / Dinner
Destinations: Arreau, Argelès-Gazost
Accomplished: 50 miles / 80 km, elevation gain: 7,449 feet / 2,271 meters
Longer Option: 69 miles / 112 km, elevation gain: 13,399 feet / 4,085 meters (Hautacam)
Accommodations: Le Viscos or Hotel Gallia

Our last day cycling across the Pyrenees begins with the Col d’Aubisque. The Aubisque was part of the famous 1910 stage where Octav Lapize called the race organizers “assassins”. The Aubisque has been featured in the Tour de France 70 times since. It’s not exactly all downhill from here; the last two days of riding are tough (tougher than the first two). Rest up and enjoy some country hospitality on your free night in preparation for the final ride to the sea.

Meals: Breakfast / Lunch
Destinations: Laruns, Barcus
Accomplished: 69 miles / 112 km, elevation gain: 9,374 feet / 2,858 meters
Shorter Option: 60 miles / 97 km, elevation gain: 4,238 feet / 1,292 meters (without the Col d’Aubisque)
Accommodations: Hotel Chilo

The nice thing about leaving the High Pyrenees is that there are no more famous climbs, so you may have a chance to rule the Strava segments here. Here we’ll ride on narrow farm tracks through the green hills of Basque country, reminiscent of the rolling hills of Ireland or France. We’ll make our re-acquaintance with sea level in Saint-Jean-de-Luz, a French fishing village on the Atlantic Coast. If you brought your own bike, you can throw it in the sea to celebrate. Congratulations, your cycling friends have all stopped following your updates. But beer tastes better than jealousy, so enjoy it. You’ve earned it.

Meals: Breakfast / Lunch / Dinner
Destinations: Barcus, Mauléon-Licharre, Saint-Jean-De-Luz
Accomplished: 63 miles / 101 km, elevation gain: 5,366 feet / 1,636 meters
Accommodations: Hotel Madison

You biked across the Pyrenees of France, why not enjoy one more croissant? Later in the day, catch a train on to your next destination.

Meals: Breakfast