Luz to Oleron - one burro, some cows, and a herd of goats

Day 7

Ummmm, I'm pretty sure that I am crossing the Pyrenees with the mentally insane. You wouldn't know it to look at them. They all seem normal, no weird twitches or anything. However I’m pretty sure behind their wholesome, nice guy next door smiles, their brains are decaying with mental illness. Everyone jumped out of bed, put on their ridding shorts (which I'm pretty sure are going to need to be burned at the end of this), and loaded up to ride 3 more hairy climbs. A set of twin peaks called Col de Solour and Col de Abisque, and also the Col de Marie Blanque. Since the first two qualify as an HC climb and the second is a Cat.1, I'm pretty sure they all should have had Ibuprofen for breakfast instead of pastries, but who am I to coddle. They were all very excited and hippity -hopped on to the Col de Abisque. Gargantua and I told Jenny the Garmin where we wanted to go and we were off. I have to go MUCH slower in towns than they do and so I lost sight of them pretty quickly, especially since it was downhill for a while. Well, Jenny the Garmin had her panties in a bunch and she was insisting that I turn onto this one way street. It started out harmless enough until it began to narrow and wind and narrow and wind. Then came the moment that I could reach out and touch the buildings on either side and I thought I might swear when I had to fold in the side mirrors so they didn't scratch on the building. However my real angst came when I came to a dead end. The stupid Garmin is still telling me to proceed .5 miles and make a left on blah,blah street. I'm sweating like a sinner in church as I back Gargantua down this one way street the wrong direction. French people are saying things that don't seem friendly, and in my mind I'm debating smothering each of the boys with their pillows (I'm not sure why it would be their fault, but the only other alternative would have been to blame myself. . . not likely).
All ended well because when I finally got out of there, I pulled over in an open spot to breath and looked up to see a pastry shop. This is the boys favorite treat, and since I'm way to lazy to hold a grudge, I decide to try my French out and I go in to order them some yummies. I try ordering three times, the first gets me a confused stare, the second a smirk, the third has the counter girl laughing so hard she's wiping tears out of her eyes. Later I learned from Gordy I ordered some sort of pastry with liver.
I finally caught up with the boys, they were all smiles and the ride had spectacular views, so I head halfway up to take their pictures, and write this blog. There is a donkey here that really thinks I have some sort of food. He keeps putting his big, hairy lips on my laptop screen, and when I get up and move, he follows me. This brings me to the next thing that happens. The boys are headed up to the top of the Abisque and I'm two turns behind the guys, contemplating how tight these roads are, (Sheer cliff up, steep drop off to the right), when I come face to face with a couple bikers, two cars and a herd of cows all stuck on a hairpin turn. Made me laugh, the cows definitely felt they had the right away, and the noise they made with their big cow bells and mooing was amazing. Just when I got done giggling over how all five of the guys must of looked coming through this bovine jam, I come around the next corner to Greg, all alone on his bike in the middle of a herd of goats that are on the road. He looked confused, he claims he couldn't decide between taking a picture or filming the silliness. There had to be 50 to 100 goats. This scene was topped off with a herd of horses breaking into a run on the hill above him. All these obstacles make me wonder if the Tour de France riders aren't really getting the feel of this place. I think they are going to fast and they are to pandered to, to really appreciate their surroundings. I believe the race would be funner if we could see the whole lot of them stuck on their bikes in the middle of a herd of goats (that would slow 'em down. Just imagine them in their outfits out there trying to weave through some cows or goats.).Also, the road is probably all swept off so they don't have to dodge road apples left by the cows. The guys in the Tour have nothing on these boys. These guys can ride the climbs, avoid the “wildlife”, navigate a busy city with crazy french drivers, name the house that had the weird wooden duck that looked real, and swerve around the three-legged cat, fat frog (alive, we think) and meandering burro. Ahhh a perfect day.

Route: http://www.bikemap.net/route/382386
Millage: 70 miles
Elevation Climb: About 7000 ft