Cycling summary
None, obviously. However, a long journey west in order to be in place for the start of Stage 10 is necessary.
Breakfast: 08:00. Transfer: 7h30. Start time: 09:00. Distance: don’t want to know. Terrain: who cares, I’m on a bus. Climbs: ditto. Finish: 16:30. Time in coach seat: 6h30.
Local lowdown
Despite being so close to the Alps, we swing across to the Dordogne and will make our way back over the coming weeks. So we are not really local to anywhere today!
Tale from the Tour
Thanks again for the messages of support and I am happy that people are enjoying reading the blog. For my part, I am really enjoying writing it even though the demands of the day are such that I can’t do it until at least 10pm once everything is ready for the morning. I think it helps me to unwind even though it means staring at a small screen, which isn’t supposed to be good for you.
Yesterday I could have simply said that I made a salami and cheese sandwich to take with me, that I had to use a lot of kit and that my hands are now a little numb after doing some hard climbing. That, I think, would have been a bit boring!
In fact it may interest you to know that I came up with the competitions idea while climbing Mont du Chat. It certainly helped distract me from the difficulty of that climb!
Not much news is permeating the cycling bubble. As I write this, practically the only thing I know is that the Lions beat New Zealand on Saturday, setting the series up nicely for the decider next week. There was a big cheer at feed stop 2 when we found that out! There has been some talk as to whether that stage will be short enough for us to be able to start later, after the match has finished, but that idea’s a non-starter.
In Perigueux I would have bought a newspaper, probably the sports paper, L’Equipe! And I would have saved it for future use to help dry out wet shoes if we get caught in a bit of rain again. But given that we arrived late afternoon it was all rush again, this time to get the clothes washed and the bike cleaned. Well all after a fashion. Kit is a bit damp still and hopefully will air off overnight. Bike is less dirty than it was but at least the drive chain is clean and lubed.
A lot of new people joined us today, those who will be riding either 2 or 4 stages. Dinner was good.
johnstourdeforce 