MTS enjoy the highest peaks in the Pyrenees

A group of 14 cyclists from around Ireland scaled the thin air of the highest peaks in the Pyrenees which are been tackled at this year's Tour De France. The group based themselves in Saint Savin a small village 15k south of Lourdes, Paddy Sweeney formly a road rider with the Navan road club has set by Velo peloton who provided all the logistics for the trip.

Each day the aim was to climb 3 peaks, this involved back breaking ascents with dare devil descending and riding for approx 5 to 6 hrs a day

The group were on a challenge to complete 16000m of climbing in 5 days, this involved climbing 16 of the highest peaks in the French Pyrenees, part of the challenge was the 168k Hubert Arbes Sportif cycle which takes in this year's highest mountain the Col Du Tourmalet at 2115m above sea level.

All the group members were successful in their attempts, with one group member saying "the hardest thing to overcome was the heat and dehydration with temperatures souring to 38degrees".

The Tour De France will race over these same roads from Monday the 19th to 23rd, so it will be interesting to see how much faster the professionals cyclist race up them at.