Day 3: flat and furious

 

Day 3: 136 | 5 h 53 m | 23.2 avg speed 1.857 vertical meters

First day without high temperatures. The third day of this adventure stayed overcast with a constant west wind coming thru. The temperature was around 30 degrees C, but with no sun we stayed cool enough to keep pushing to the end and I managed to finish together with one of the guys. Great day on the bike that I had my moments of doubt.

The profile of the day was interesting. It had a big lump at the beginning and then it was pretty flat after that. But if one know a little about french roads one knows that there is nothing flat here and I was worried of how much energy that would take if I wanted to stay with the fast guys today. 

The big “lump” was the Pic de Nore. The top of a “small” mountain that was 17 kms from the start of the ride. From the go we were climbing and I started very tired and with heavy legs. I could feel also very stif and low in energy but I hoped after my body warmed up I would start moving and feeling better. I guess this is the difference from single day and multiple days events. After 5 kms we started the proper climb and everybody was dropping me. But slowly I managed to start to feel better and did almost the whole 11 kms with Aaron. We talked about everything but mostly about politics and that helped the time pass. I was struggling in the steepest part and really considering if my desire to stay with front group was possible. My heart rate was not too high but I was feeling out of breath very quick and no power in the legs. Very happy to complete the climb without stopping but not the best performance. 

At the top, that early in the day, we were in the clouds. We couldn’t see more then 30 meters ahead of us. But our driver was waiting for us there with a nice soup to keep us warm snd recover from the effort. It was a weird place to be, sitting in the cold clouds, eating and drinking. 

SECOND PART - After that, it was a long and nice descent to the valley. I started to feel a little more confident on the turns and was breaking less than yesterday. Still far from my normal speed but better. I like when you are descending and looking at the navigation on the bike computer to anticipate the next move. When it goes well it feels like you are playing video games. 

At the bottom of the valley I regrouped with Geert-Jan, one of the Dutch riders, and we rode together for another 20 kms or so, which helped me to keep pace and finally feel warm enough. At some point, Dale joined us and that is what I hope to keep up. The front group. They finished yesterday 2 hours ahead of everyone. We rode together until the first stop, around the mid distance mark. 

THIRD PHASE - After eating some pancakes (in cycling there is a lot of eating), we headed to the last 70 kms to complete the job. I don’t like stopping for too long and Geert-Jan also wanted to go and so the 3 of us started riding strong. I knew it would a long 70 kilometers with a lot of ups and downs but I felt a little better and was determined to stay with them. We had head wind and that would require a lot of effort to keep going. 

It was also a mental work. We were in roads with a long straight stretches and with a lot of traffic. Dale and I started rotating and at one point there was the last small climb of the day. A short 3 kms climb. We pushed forward and when we looked back we couldn’t see Gert-Jan. We decided to keep going and collaborating who stayed in front. It was a great ride with speed around 30/32 kilometers per hour, pushing against the wind. We finished. The ride strong around 15:30 and I was very happy with the result, staying with the guys and really enjoyed the day. 

Tomorrow is our first rest and recovery day. We have a heavy day on Wednesday and the weather forecast is not great with rain expected. And rain in the high mountains is usually a very cold deal. We will see.