Stage 4 (day 5) ....

...must have been one of the hardest days on a bike. The double 26-39 is great but when legs are this dead im pushing the shifter in hope that a few gears magically appears....never happend.

Still gate 5 for us but with a bit late arrival our gate riders had moved up to 4 already so we snuck in there . The neutral was not as hard as normal, maybe more legs are tired. We road for about 20km in a pretty good pace and when the first climb came i figured it would slow down but it was a sprint up the mountain. Well at least if felt like it for me as we probably moved in a crawling pace up. The first climb took us 40km into the race and up 1100m. I tried to hang on but eventually had to ask Craig to throw in the towle. It later showed it might have been a good move as for some the pace probably was to hard to sustain. My break was mentally killing me to with its squeaky sound all day. Craig wanted me to forget about it, but i left my airplugs at the hotel so it was hard. Though further into the race the dry chain took over with a louder noice and then it was all good in my head. Every climb was rewarded with some great fun downhill for a little bit and some long. But there was always amother climb on the bottom. Tough but easier on the head when they were nice single track climbs which we had some good once. At 68 km mark we entered the last big climb of 500m over 4 km....it was hard. But totally helped to see the green leaders up front. Put in a little extra effort mostly mental effort bike still went the same steady slow pace up. But it was good enough to pass them and leave them quickly. I didnt look back to much, I was just happy the day wasn't just feeling hard for me. At the top we had some more awesome down. At the bottom we hang on to a guy and we all took a wrong turn, not just wrong but it was like a wall steep climb! Not sure how long but probably a few minutes up a whole bunch of folks came riding down yelling wrong way! Leader women's team as well. So we turned. I wasn't sure if it was enough lost time for mix lead to have passed us but Craig thought no. We road in through the city which was cool; all the streets was closed one way for us, creating a bit of chaos but fun to see. Finally finish line and another stage win, with the leaders just behind! Hard earned!
Had a massage, some food and waiting for dinner. Tomorrow last stage is "only" 59.7 km but with 2151 m of climbing! I look forward to km 47, from there and in it should be all smiles!

Happy riding (even when its hard as h...)