Pre- race:
Another big day. 144 km with the hard part at the very end, and if the wind gods are not on my side it might be sooner. One of the classic finishes though; in the middle of the castle village after a brutal coble stone climb including some steps at the end to get there. One of my favorite, the finish that is.
A couple people had to pull out today due to saddle sores, it shows the reality of this race. It's been hot, days are long, lots of us have less hrs on a mountain bike so not surprising we get beat up. I keep telling the other girl in the race who is a first timer, that it'll get better, body sort of adapts to all of it. I'm hoping I'm right.
Food is getting less interesting, not the offering but the motivation to eat it. Bring what I can on the bike and if need be today might be a coffe shop stop if appetite comes back.
Post race Update:
Got into the race much quicker than the other days. The first climb early in in the race got legs warmed up and from there a lot of rolling and fairly smooth terrain and some road. This seem to suit my bum and feet as I'm able to stand more with out bouncing the feet and give the rear a break. With all the strong roadies I expected some group would come by pretty quick today so made sure I didn't leave it all out there on my own. Soon after checkpoint 1 Erik (Belgium) and Raphael (Italy?) came by just as I pulled my shorts back up after a pee break. Good timing. On the dirt they kept a moderate pace but as soon as we hit some asphalt section Erik would do some great pulling. We would eventually loose Raphael, and then it was the two of us for the day. Great to have a ridding buddy, mentally the time goes by so much quicker and he is a machine on the road when I get slow. The real race, or the hard parts really don't start until the end after 100 km. By then it was about 30 degrees! We stopped at the same gas station I've stopped both other times. Got some water to get us through to the finish. Hoped no one had gone by, and as we got to the Big Dipper at 115 km there was no tire marks on the hike out, so looks like we were still in the lead. I quiet enjoy the riding after this. We follow the river for a while, up and down, then some rolling hills with some nice rock features. As we got closer Erik started getting really happy about possible beating his Roomie for the first time. He told me to go as I could win the stage, but 20 km is a ways and he rode as good if not better on the flats, so didn't see a need to go kill my self alone. Hoped steady hard would work out. With less than a km left, climbing up the castle cobble to the finish Jose comes from behind, off the seat determined to win, and so he did. New course record! Fast day with tail winds and perfect conditions had the first 3 of us getting in under the previous record.
Erik came just behind me very happy with the day, dancing :) great to see. We also got to enjoy some cool wild life today, deer looking thing run beside us then cut in front by jumping two bar wire fences, pretty neat.
At the finish I couldn't get off my pedal, a early race mishap jumping over the first gate and since I lifted bike over I also had to jump over the bike. Bad plan, bad thinking and totally badly executed - live and learn. Landed weird and ankle did something weird. Was fine on bike all day and now it's ice and elevation and crossing fingers it's just a simple sprain. And as if that silly mistake was not enough, as we ride through the castle to the hotel Erik Desided to stop for water, and I watch him while I slowly ride, hit a curb and almost go over the handle bars, knee hit hard and another bump! It seem to be the simple tasks that get us in trouble - so keep your mind on the simple things as well.
Tomorrow is partially a new course, 167 km! So if folks thought today was long, tomorrow sure will be a "treat" in the heat.
Happy Riding!
Amazing view off this bridge...
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