Map/Profile:
From the best to possibly the worst...
Today's stage, taking us from Orthez to Bordeaux, was a bit of an anticlimax.
Having been spoilt by four days riding in the majestic Pyrenees I guess 180km on the flat was always going to leave us just that... a little flat. Finishing on the top of the Tourmalet, for those that were attempting the whole Tour, really was the final major hurdle - the final three stages were now just 'easy' stages we could tick off...
The flatness was only heightened by four hours sleep the previous night, a headwind, temperatures on the bike that reached 45 Celsius (once you took into account the heat radiating back up off the roads), bad tarmac and a complete lack of visual stimuli (apparently we passed through the extensive man-made forest of Les Landes)... There was absolutely nothing to see, we faced endless straight roads seemingly in the middle of nowhere, with only the occasional logging truck rattling past us at silly speeds to keep us on our toes (the fact that I only took one photo all day, purely to illustrate the drabness, proves the point here). I don't remember ever feeling so bored on a bike.
I would like today's ride to being put on an exercise bike in a sauna and having a hairdryer blow in your face with only a poster of some pine trees to keep you amused.
Physically the distance was no challenge at all (I still find it strange that cycling 110 miles should trouble me so little...), but the mental challenge today, after the highs of yesterday, was one of the hardest things I have had to face over the past three weeks.
Having reached lunch, and by this time royally fed up, the day took a turn for the better as Williams, Jake and I had each had enough and decided to blitz the next 35km at break neck speed. We each took a turn pulling on the front until we reached Williams, who by his own admission is more of a carriage than a train, when it all slowed down. Luckily Jes, the time trail machine, whizzed past us and Jake and I could just about grab his coattails for a free ride until our final feed stop.
The last 35km after the final feed stop were rattled off at a similarly breakneck speed with Jes, Ryan rotating every km, and the stage was finished in no time. I saw little but tarmac or the wheel ahead of me in the peloton for the last 70km into Bordeaux....I don't think I missed much!
Back at the hotel at a decent time and now only two very short glory rides to complete before the knees up in Paris!
S
From the best to possibly the worst...
Today's stage, taking us from Orthez to Bordeaux, was a bit of an anticlimax.
Having been spoilt by four days riding in the majestic Pyrenees I guess 180km on the flat was always going to leave us just that... a little flat. Finishing on the top of the Tourmalet, for those that were attempting the whole Tour, really was the final major hurdle - the final three stages were now just 'easy' stages we could tick off...
The flatness was only heightened by four hours sleep the previous night, a headwind, temperatures on the bike that reached 45 Celsius (once you took into account the heat radiating back up off the roads), bad tarmac and a complete lack of visual stimuli (apparently we passed through the extensive man-made forest of Les Landes)... There was absolutely nothing to see, we faced endless straight roads seemingly in the middle of nowhere, with only the occasional logging truck rattling past us at silly speeds to keep us on our toes (the fact that I only took one photo all day, purely to illustrate the drabness, proves the point here). I don't remember ever feeling so bored on a bike.
I would like today's ride to being put on an exercise bike in a sauna and having a hairdryer blow in your face with only a poster of some pine trees to keep you amused.
Physically the distance was no challenge at all (I still find it strange that cycling 110 miles should trouble me so little...), but the mental challenge today, after the highs of yesterday, was one of the hardest things I have had to face over the past three weeks.
Having reached lunch, and by this time royally fed up, the day took a turn for the better as Williams, Jake and I had each had enough and decided to blitz the next 35km at break neck speed. We each took a turn pulling on the front until we reached Williams, who by his own admission is more of a carriage than a train, when it all slowed down. Luckily Jes, the time trail machine, whizzed past us and Jake and I could just about grab his coattails for a free ride until our final feed stop.
The last 35km after the final feed stop were rattled off at a similarly breakneck speed with Jes, Ryan rotating every km, and the stage was finished in no time. I saw little but tarmac or the wheel ahead of me in the peloton for the last 70km into Bordeaux....I don't think I missed much!
Back at the hotel at a decent time and now only two very short glory rides to complete before the knees up in Paris!
S
Time: 7hrs 5mins
Distance: 183.3km
Av Speed: 25.9km/h
Total Ascent: 884m
Av HR: 118pm
No comments:
Post a Comment