RUST magazine: RUST#30

circuit de pyrénées
much harder. For the French Police honour was at stake – one year they
rode Kawasaki GPZ 500s and were very quick but as it’s a timed event,
everyone’s racing the clock and not each other – theoretically.”
From the Bois du Bager we pressed on to Arette, then swung south on
the d132. Just out of interest, there was a time check at Arette and then
another one 17km later, where you leave the d132 on the forestry road in
the Forêt d’issaux. in between is the La Mouline special test of very tight
zig-zags, which climb about 1000 metres overall. to average 60kph
means that the 17km obviously has to take no longer than 17 minutes.
taking into account sloppy manual timing, we managed times in the
mid-20s. Mitigating circumstances included the fact that the special test
would have been a closed road, allowing you to make up time on all the
corners of which there were many. in all an interesting though ultimately
futile exercise, which left me slightly breathless and experiencing some
body leakage, even at the cool, higher altitude with all the vents in my
Acerbis Adventure suit open.
the forestry road was, by comparison, a joy to take in at a more
leisurely pace before joining the d241 at Lourdios-ichère. then we rode
over the Col d’ichère, followed by the somewhat rude appearance of the
n134, which we left at escot, about the halfway mark, before taking the
d294 en route for the famous Col de Marie-Blanque – at 1035 metres,
this is a mere pimple compared with what comes later. the d294 is,
today, a hazard. Motorhomes struggle on the ascents with the diesel