Pre start:
Woke up pretty sore, today will be the test of recovery, when fit I can usually recover between stages ok. The start is an hour later today, hence the whole program shifts a bit. Walked, what seemed a mountain of stairs, down to eat but only to have to come back up for another 30 while they prepare. When ready the breakfast consisted of air buns (white), cheese, jam and ham. I love the bread here and normally could eat this for all meals; but considering my eating habit on the on the bike this meal might not be in my favour. But it tasted vey good so I had two.
Today we go down into a spectacular valley and of course climb out as well. The sky is blue and it should be a great day regardless of how the feel on the bike will be.
Post day update:
Started again in a moderate pace keeping tomorrow's stage in mind. Today the course right off the bat takes you on a good climb. Felt ok, and didn't think I pushed to hard. Road the roman cobble path to the bottom of the first decent and tried to clean the trail back out as it was dry and perfect conditions, didn't make it without scratching. Next time. After a quick road decent the climbing continuous to about 38 km mark. Mostly double track dirt track. After this fairly fast section to around the 70 mark and from there and in a good mix of some good rocky climbs and descents. I felt ok to about this point, I felt like yesterday I paced my self pretty good, but at the end of the day I'm done! I guess there is no easy way of completing 110 km on a mountain bike. Though as I listen to some of the guys come in behind me, they talk about their easy day today, so maybe there is a way. Either way, I'm spent again, like after every stage in any stage race I do.
The events I remember from today besides the many great trails; fist a spider in my shirt and it bit me and I'm not a fan of spiders! Then a wasp, and last a freak out moment when two consecutive bites of something on my back. Hit breaks, yelled and threw my jersey off, good thing I'm in the middle of no where with no one to see the wimpy side. Found sort of an ant looking thing with wings, inside the jersey, shook it off and from there on I zipped it up fully and dealt with the heat!
Crossed three cool roman rock bridges; last one quiet ingrown but I was determined not to get bike wet, even after the pre race warning. And the stuff that grew also burned. But bike and shoes remained dry.
Jose passed me just after 80km on a flat and maybe slightly down; fun times, I could enjoy the draft for a min, until flat was a slight up and he just powers off. New course record was set at 4.31, the handicap times are shrinking.
Dad made all but one check point, improvement from yesterday. Guess the CP on the garmin are from 2012, better get that fixed as two stages are brand new this year.
All in all a great stage; good mixture of trails and almost dry all through. Hard packed trails makes for a little rougher ride, and combined with the heat my feet are suffering from pressure points on the bottom, this leads to more time in saddle as standing is hard at the end of the day, at this point sitting is harder than I can remember in any race also. Any tips on dealing with sore feet are welcomed! About 10 km from the finish I was tempted to take a break in the grass and enjoy the sunshine laying down - somehow convinced my self to get a grip and get to where the food is - and the boys behind were still behind. Better enjoy this while I can as we are gettin closer to the "flat" stages and things could quickly turn.
Time to enjoy this great hotel and rest up for tomorrow's big mountain stage.
Happy Riding!
Fail - and on camera...
Navigating through the villages can sometimes be tricky, but got a new garmin and I'm impressed how well it displays the data, from any angle or position on the bike. Score.
Kate - Re sore feet - I'm assuming that the soreness is on the ball of the foot which sounds as though it's from prolonged pressure effort on the bike. So, also on the assumption too that you haven't recently changed anything like pedals, shoes and/or cleat position, nor your position on the bike, not wearing socks that are too thick and don't let your feet breathe etc., then advise would be to keep your feet cool (shoes not too tight and not too loose) and, treat your feet at the end of each day to a cooling bath and massage and let them recover overnight. Also, I've heard that those anti DVT socks can help (those knee length socks that people can wear when flying). I've only taken to wearing them recently (but I haven't been doing any long km's or racing like you). Finally, if nothing you do seems to help and the soreness gets worse, an alternative, but only if you are used to them, is to use flat pedals with your flat-soled MTB shoes of course. These take the pressure off the ball of the foot because your foot tends to be more central on the pedal with flats. This does of course alter your overall position marginally on the bike and your pedaling action and you loose the ability to up-pull. And so, this would only be as a last resort and I stress, only if you are used to using them at home for your downhill days etc. Otherwise, that's all I can think of. Best wishes for today's stage. Cheers - Dave
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