Today we headed from the Drome to the Ardeche, via the southern Massif Central. We travelled through an area of France I had never visited before and it was stunning.
We cycled out alongside the Rhone first thing in the morning and knowing that three brutal days in the Pyrenees loomed in the near future I decided that today might be a good day to spend with the back markers of the peloton. A couple of members of the group were struggling and it was good to be back with them to pull them along.
The pace at the back is noticeably slower and gave me a chance to just spin the legs and take it easy, all the time taking in the scenery around. The pace at the back meant I was riding well within my comfort zone and I really enjoyed the first two-thirds of the day, however, as the back group began to tire the pace naturally dropped and I began to feel a little like a coiled spring. That said, what was supposed to be a relatively big day (210km with a decent number of hills) turned out to be a good opportunity to rest my legs and overall I had a great day of cycling.
There were a number of climbs throughout the day but the best was saved for last. The Cote de la Croix-Neuve Montee Laurent Jalabert up to Mende airport, the stage finish, can only be described as a wall. Ridiculously steep, but thankfully relatively short at only 4km. Glad I had a lot left in the legs for it. Will be interesting to see the Pros tackle it.
As well as the newly tarmaced roads we are encountering on our way (which often feel like they are meting under your wheels as you roll over them) a lot of the towns have various Tour related decorations adorning lampposts, roundabouts and the like. Some are just bikes, flower shaped bike or similar and some are just plain weird... dancing sheep wearing coloured cycling jerseys? It’s clear that a lot of the towns are really proud that the Tour passes through.
Tomorrow is a shorter day, so hopefully will have another chance to rest the legs... they will need it.
S
Time: 9hrs 45mins
Distance: 209.3km
Av Speed: 21.4km/h
Total Ascent: 2985m
Av HR: 114bpm
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