RAPHA BOOKS/MAGAZINES/DVDS


2012 Rapha Guide to the Great Climbs of the Pyrenees

  • Item: RAP137
  • $80.00

A torrid affair? We're all for it. Lifelong love? We believe in it with total sincerity. Can they peaceably co-exist? The answer, we think, is yes. Don't you recall that famous photo from Francois Mitterand's funeral, where wife and mistress stood quite near two-abreast next to the casket? Love and lust, side by side. Beautiful.

Our friends at Rapha provide us with a similar duality. They produce the quarterly Rouleur and a hardback Photo Annual, each of which amaze and arouse. Like nothing else, they stoke the fires of our wanderlust, and they motivate us to ride ourselves into the ground. Those feelings are white-hot when evoked, but like most extreme passions they extinguish all-too-quickly. With The Rapha Guide To The Great Road Climbs Of The Pyrenees Rapha displays their trademark talents for intoxicating prose and photography, but they add a layer they've never before shown an interest in: Practical detail. With this guide, they provide directions, maps, and advice on all things Pyrenean. How do you find each of the three possible approaches to the Col d'Aubisque? Rapha provides ample detail. What is the total length, the height, and the maximum gradient of each approach? It's here. What are the various monuments you'll see? The vapors of what history -- invisible as you climb -- are you riding through? Rapha fills you in.

The book provides immense detail -- historical, photographic, prosaic, logistical -- for over 100 climbs split out amongst 8 regions. This is a monumental work, made that much more powerful for the fact that it thrills on a page-by-page basis, but gives substance for a lifetime of riding. It provides you endless fuel for cycling fantasy, plus a depth & a caliber of practical advice you'd otherwise only get from a hardened local. Like almost nothing in life, it's evocative, but substantive. Hardback, 320 pages.