This was the first of three with a sunny hot day for this stage. The start was cool but 5 min in and the climbing start and the heat sets in. There is no shady areas on this course, very open. Felt good up the first climb and thought I rode smart being day 1. Had a little bit of a worry riding up to the just over 30 mark to revisit the farm dogs that don't like me much. As I rode through the farm, a new guy was there, same breed but tiny baby pup and he had no idea I was the scared one, so he got scared and ran off....no sign of mom and pops. Good thing.
With the blue sky I could actually see a lot of the landscape and it was like the first time through. I didn't recognize the stage at all, besides so very specific feature, like the old roman stone bridge, the large cobble stone climb and the last 7 km which always kicks your butt.
So now that I got through the farm I could relax and enjoy the rest of the ride. The trails went up and down up and down, mostly double track, fairly ingrown at times, but dry and dusty. Rutted from rain but totally fine to ride. I had heard a lot about the fast guy in the race this year, Jose Silva, but the nice thing about being in the front with no clue where the rest of the guys are, you just ride and do your thing. And up until around 70-80 km I felt pretty good, from there on it felt the breaks were on, legs started to hurt and the heat got to me. I drank, so that's a good news story for me, probably had 5-6 bottles worth! Got a little bit of second wind (if there is such thing at that point) after second last checkpoint. But shortly after the tornado flew by! On a climb, he passed me like I was standing still (and no, I wasn't, I was actually putting on extra hard effort to at least make it look like I'm a little bit fast)... He left me in the dust, but with a smile :) nice guy. For a second it feels like a crush to your moral, but as I watch him hammer up this hill (120km in), it's quiet inspiring. By the time we finished he got 11 min on me. And of course that is with my handicap.
The last kilometres felt long and slow, but some fun sections of decending. You go through this town, but then get shot out in the wilderness with no other town in sight, just hills. And there is only sub 10 km left; and it's like this until you pretty much have 2 km left, very tough on the mind. It was nice to get to the finish with having nobody else pass from behind. Totally beat; and only 8 equally or maybe some harder than today! But totally looking forward to each one of them.
Thanks to dad for driving to the cp's, well those he can make in time :) he is putting together a new strategy for tomorrow. Maybe I need to learn a little. Make a plan, or just keep riding a day at a time as best I can, yeah, that works too.
Also thanks to all the encouragement from everywhere else; when the mind takes me in a direction I'd rather not go, I think of this and it's helps direct it back on course.
Time to put legs up and rest for tomorrow.
Happy Riding!
It's always a pleasure to read your comments in Transportugal! Wish you a good race Kate!
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