So if there is upsetting and resurrecting, then it was my up and down today. Whereas it actually started pretty easy and as always, had I not made a crucial mistake.
It went through wonderfully romantic landscapes, small villages, again much agricultural landscape, gorges and river landscapes. Unfortunately, my phone pictures in this light this morning nix presentable become. At some point then typical French Sunday, people with baguette under the arm, sitting at 8:30 in the cafe, etc..
The profile picture of this stage was already correspondingly demanding, first up, 12 km with 8-10%, in the middle of the day mighty down and again steeply up.
But if that would have been so easy and the weather not so cruel, yes then … but it should come quite differently.
To anticipate, I packed my rain gear in the wrong van. You have to know, all stages are always divided into sections, which are called FeedStops (food stops). There is solid and liquid food and water about every 40 km. Exactly at these FeedStops you can place a backpack with such things that you think you need on the way.
The cardinal mistake of the day was, I had given my backpack with the rain things into the 2nd Van and the bag with change clothes into the first Van. Correct would have been the other way around. Please do not ask me why … The result was then that I came virtually in swimming trunks and T-shirt in the rain and the cold.
So my drama took its course today. We climbed from about 500 meters to 1145 meters above sea level and it started to rain, first lightly, then more. Everything would not have been so bad, only, the higher I got, the colder it became. Long speech, short sense, I came shivering and trembling in my – exaggerated, but apt – swim trunks and T-shirt 80 km far, until I saw at the way wheel a small Scottish woman shivering in the accompanying van and I also took the opportunity.
Arrived 5 km later at the feedstop I made it to the next auberge, where other fellow sufferers greeted me. So we first had soup and steak, tea and coke. Afterwards I enjoyed the mega-heating of such a transport car and recovered a bit, changed clothes and discarded any thought of ever getting on a bike again. Especially since at the same time it started to pour like from buckets, which made any thought of a forestry impossible for me.
While the van drove to the next sector I saw all my companions similarly stumble, only they were not in swimming trunks but in decent rainwear. It was simply freezing cold, about 6 degrees at 1100 meters and raining.
To cut a long story short, I then arrived at FeedStop 3, the weather cleared up, everyone else gradually trickled in and we gathered at a picnic parking area somewhere in these hills.
Point of honor, as soon as my bike is there I at least finish the rest. Frankly, I was pretty frustrated and geknickt that I have now spent 80 km in the car, sitting in the car was the last thing I wanted on this tour.
Vernünfitg it was all the time, because I also want to drive the 3rd week and with the knowledge of dinner, I now know that some have overtaken and now have to fight with cold signs. That’s exactly what I didn’t want. This is risk management, I want to live the next turn (bike), the next slope (ski), the next trade (FX), the next day … too.
In short, I thought I was now down with the Lifers. On the contrary, they came and patted me on the back because I just got back on the bike and finished the course. Later, at dinner, one of them told me, you rode all the rainy days with us in the first week and signaled that everyone had already noticed that I was just chilled out …
What can I say, I was really grateful for the gesture, I felt like a loser and now the Lifers gave me back the feeling, we all stumble, the important thing is just to get up again and keep going.
YEAH
Here are a few more impressions of the day
