training for the raid pyrenean

Thats not the best advice in the world!

What exactly does the ride involve and what kind of fitness are you in now?

The ride involves going across the pyrenees from the Atlantic to the Med, over 5 days, with all the big mountains on the TdF included. The distance varies each day from between 130km to 170km.

My level of fitness is above average for a 19 year old. I have access to gym facilities and my road bike, so training is no problem.

I have got plenty of time for any training as i am at university!!

This summer I rode the raid pyrenean in July have to say how wonderfull it was. Fitness was not that good but the company I went with were very good www .bike-alive.com

Threshold work is what you need, these are long climbs not short efforts. So long efforts in training at near aerobic threshold is what you need to be doing, along with some long rides in general to make sure you have the base needed to do a week's worth of long days in the saddle.

Also get your gearing right -- the Pyrenees can be very steep and what will get you up a steepish 5 or 10 min climb will not be sufficient for something 40-60 min. You want gearing that will get you through a bad day, there's no such thing as having too many gears when doing alpine climbs!