6th May
A perfect weather day – not a cloud in the sky with a forecast high of 26c mid afternoon. Great cycling conditions. Up at 7am for a 7.30am breakfast and ready to depart at 8.30am.
We were just about to depart when ‘eagle eyed’ Mike spotted a problem with Neil’s gear cabling which needed some attention to avoid a cable snap. A good team effort (except Chris who snapped away like the paparazzi) eventually got the problem sufficiently well fixed for the bike to pass a fitness test for the days ride. We ended up losing 45 minutes and starting at 9.15am.
Biggest days cycling so far at 102 miles with Neil and Nick in the saddle for the whole day. In the saddle for leg 1 was Chris, Neil, Nick and Lyn with Mike driving and sourcing the day’s picnic goodies. This leg took us from Bressuire to St. Hilaire-des-Loges – 57kms over rolling hills and entering the Vendee. We rolled up eagerly looking for our traditional coffee and bun stop only to find that the only coffee ship in the village closed.
So after a quick energy bar and water we took off for leg 2. In the saddle were Chris, Mike, Neil and Nick with Lyn driving and hunting out our lunch picnic venue. Operation LE PELETON was put into place for this leg as the terrain was pretty flat and uninteresting and we thought it would be a great chance to catch up some time. To put it into perspective we climbed 1,700ft in leg 1 and 400ft in leg 2 over similar distances. The plan worked perfectly with each rider taking the lead for 5kms and then dropping to the back to allow the next rider to lead. This constant rotation enabled the team to keep a constant speed of around 30kms per hour for the whole distance of 54kms. Top effort.
Lyn sourced a great lunch spot by a river just outside of Muron. Importantly we had some shade as the temperature was peaking out at around 28C. We had to do a fait bit of mosquito swatting but it was a great fuel stop ahead of the final leg of the day.
In the saddle were Neil, Nick, Mike and Lyn with Chris driving on to find the hotel location. The leg took the team from Muron to Royan at Grande Hotel De La Plage – literally just across the road from the beach. LE PELETON continued on into the last leg of the day although understandably the pace slowed down a bit. The team reached Royan at around 6.15pm which given the lost time in the morning and the temperatures during the day is a top effort all round.
Sorry, very slow internet connection speeds tonight so will post picture summary from today when we get a better connection.
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