The routine every morning is now established. Up early for breakfast and eat as much as you can stuff into your face. Then back to the room to pack up everything you own into the official race bag supplied by the organizers. If it is not in the bag, you have to carry it or it doesn't travel. If you accidentally pack something in the bag which you then realize you need for the race, than god help you find it. This poor chap is having a bit of a problem finding his in the pile outside the hotel.
Today is billed as the recovery stage after the efforts to climb the mountain yesterday. Some people have a weird view of what 'recovery' is. The descent off the mountain top for the first 20K is pretty hectic. The first couple of K are very fast on road and then we turn right onto the gravel.
Leg muscles are cold and have been in static tension for 30 minutes which is not what I would call a good 'warm up'. A fast twisty gravel track with a couple of surprise uphill sections with the occasional hair-pin is exhilarating but slightly scary. A tumble at this speed could put you out of the game but....it is fun. One Prong is mostly out of sight and grinning like the proverbial cat with brain fully detached. I am holding back trying to be sensible. Chris says I am 'no fun and boring'....
In a short stage of only 85k, they manage to pack in a lot of really good riding. One particular delight is the 'roman cobbles'. Only these are not those 4 inch square pretty things you see in towns. Think more like 12 to 24 inch boulders. Riding down these will shake the teeth out of your head and test the suspension of any bike. Chris of course is flying down and waiting to take lots of cool pictures of me being a hero and encourages me to keep going past him so he can film. Pity he doesn't press the start button...otherwise I would be able to present evidence of my triple backflip...
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