The mercury is rising....28c at the start and this boy knows he is in trouble. The forecast is to rise to 34c in the afternoon, The Irish Committee sit and discuss strategies for dealing with the heat and the advice from other half of the committee (Paul Birchell...bloody fast rider!) is to 'keep going'. Thanks :-) People are waiting for their start time taking advantage of any piece of shade they can.
Today is billed as a recovery day of only 101km with only 1000m of climbing. We are quite a long way south now and so the countryside is looking quite different. Lots of agriculture and orchards and dust. We are all going quite well considering the length of the stage yesterday, Maybe it is the relative shortness and flatness of the stage, but I am glad to take the 'rest'.
Chris is still full of beans and going like a train, I am still going OK but beginning to see some cracks. Towards the end of the stage, we break away from our group and try to stretch out a gap. I confess, it feels good to have this much confidence this late in the race. We have been moving steadily up the rankings and today start about 28th and are beginning to believe the hype. The organizers have commented that they didn't expect to see us showing so well :-) Ha!
Near the end of the stage, Chris eventually puts the hammer down and stretches the elastic with a guy we have caught and I give him my blessing to light the afterburners. We both eat Chris's dust. There is about a kilometre to go, I think, and in that time he puts 25 seconds into me. He is at least part human anyhow.
At the finish, there is a hose and all I can think about is getting myself sprayed down to cool off and Chris obliges. The photo crew are interested in this little man on man hot shower action and a little bit of it makes it into the video of the day.
Eventually, I discover there is a better way to cool down and make it to the pool.
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