Thursday, June 24th

We didn’t have a lot of distance to cover today so we took our time getting breakfast in town before heading out.  Peter wanted to redo a pass we had ridden at the start of the trip – the N141 (I can’t find a proper pass name) that we rode in the rain – so we made a beeline there and did an up-and-back and briefly crossed back into France.  Pavement was in great shape, but at the summit there were a lot of police setting up for something.  Perhaps something bicycle-related, but we never found out for sure.



Heading up N-141



N-141 was just a nice road, but not really memorable.  As in neither Dave nor I recalled riding it earlier in the trip.









Took a short detour up the mountain at the ski town of Baqueira 



Dave getting another angle of Peter



Today it was horses







Great views along C-28 approaching Sorpe



Great sticker



At the summit near Sorpe



Beginning the descent



Nice!



Dave



Peter



Too much crap blocking the view, but look at that road!



My beloved Dainese Hellracers became ventilated in Spain







Stopped for snack in the town of Esterri d’Aneu



This guy had a neat rig

Leaving town (or trying to) we had a ‘spat’ about the right way to go.  Peter had everything figured out on the GPS, and started going one way, and Dave and I were certain it was the way we came and the GPS was wrong.  We did a U-turn, went down some other road, and then we were convinced that one was wrong, etc.  It was Dave and I “gut” versus Peter’s GPS.  Tempers flared a bit (for our group, where we are invariably easy going) and eventually we gave in and let Peter lead the way out according to the GPS.   And, I have to say, he was correct.  



C-13 took us back to N-260 at Sort, and the road went higher and higher (which was great because the heat in the valley was getting to us) with great views the whole time.







N-260 between Sort and Adrall

Once 260 connected with C-14 we were only a short distance from our hotel for the night but it was still early afternoon.  I had spent money on 3 Michelin maps of the Pyrenees before the trip, and I was determined to get some use out of them!  Looking at the map there appeared to be a twisty little road that went for 20 kilometers or so before dead-ending.  Note – google maps shows that road as continuing all the way west back to the N-260 in Bresca, but the paper map shows it stopping.  That looked like it could be interesting!  I talked the other guys into it and away we went.

The road, LV-5134, started out meandering past some houses and quickly headed into a little canyon.  With no traffic at all it made us feel like we had the road all to ourselves.  After the canyon the road begins to rise through some switchbacks, then turns into a cliff-hugging ridge road with expansive views to the south.  Switchbacks, s-turns, huge sweepers, canyons, tiny hamlets, big views, etc, this road had it all – and just for us!  We proceeded very cautiously since the road was so narrow and we had no idea what lay ahead around each turn.



Starting up LV-5134



Passing by little hilltop town



Peter



After around 20kms the road turned into dirt and gravel, and none of us were interested in taking the rented bikes any farther.





The ride back was just as fun – and at a quicker pace since we knew what to expect.













LV-5134 is one spectacular road





“Hey guys, what do you think of my road choice?”







The canyon section of LV-5134

After the bliss of LV-5134 we endured a hot-as-hell ,trafficky, straight and boring C-14/N-260 blast to the town of La Seu D'urgell where we were staying at the “Hotel Nice” for our last night on the bikes.

As was our custom, Dave and I hung by the bikes and we sent Peter in to suss out the parking situation.  La Seu D'urgell was a pretty big town, almost a small city, and the parking garage was a couple blocks away.  It had big automated doors that we were sure were going to not notice our bikes and crush us, but it all worked out – even when the lights went out while we were unpacking the bikes in sublevel 3!  Once I got to my room in the hotel I was delighted, absolutely delighted, to discover it had a/c.  It had been so long since I’ve been able to control the temperature of my room…

Dinner was at a recommended Italian restaurant, and it being “only” 9pm we had the place almost to ourselves – at 10pm the place was filling up.  I don’t know if I could ever get used to the Spanish custom of eating dinner so late at night.

In honor of the summer solstice celebrations we were given free desserts – thank you!  Coming out of the restaurant, fully stuffed with free desserts, we were treated to a parade of bikes riding through town bearing flaming torches.  Fantastic!



The hotel Nice



Unpacking



Free desserts were no joke



Free cake



Awesome




Route for the day