That got rid of the a few blood clots in the heart arteries. After 3 weeks of flat riding following the Rhine and Moselle rivers and canals with a total aggregate climb of 11 metres, the last two days especially today has gone a long way towards ripping the crutch out of our nighties.
The first piece of Info that got out attention was from the channel 7 weather girl Mavis Litchfield with an accurate forecast of 3 c overnight with a days max of 8 c weigh rain great cycling weather we thought !
Off we set at a world record time of 9.50 a.m. and within 1 k km encountered our first bum busting climb !
Our kiwi mate Ross with his full carbon BMC MTV+ next to nothing luggage compared to us took the front while Mega and I pounded out the kms at a staggering speed of between 5-7 kph !
The 9 km climb had gradients from 5 - 15% which took all our vast bike handling skills just to stay upright and moving.
That lovely old lady granny was called on very early and received a solid work out all day !
At 12 we stopped for a breather- we had been going for just over 2 hours and covered an impressive 12 kms a midnight eta looked distinctly possible.
As the day progressed we encountered numerous medium climbs of 5-8%, - not much I can hear youze lot say but when the whole bike package weighs 37 KGS it is damned hard yakka !
We cycled through one village that proudly displayed the current temp as 5 big ones - `bewdy - no wonder our digits were frozen - fingers and toes that is.
Our 2nd major climb of 4 kms had even steeper sections than the first and required a couple of bale outs by the dynamic duo!.
I found it harder to push the bike up the steep grades than mega so opted to plod away on the bike which saw me draw away rapidly about 3-5 meters every km- impressive hey !
The pinnacle of the day was being enveloped in a heavy hail storm which left a layer of ice over the road - by then it was about 3 degrees and I wasn't sure if my feet and hands were attached
Going down the mtn megas brakes were rasted slightly above useless and as per our 2011 trip (twice) he failed to negotiate a rather sharp left hander and ended up in farmer Fritzs paddock which by the way was a tad muddy !
After lots of laughs the Romanian judge behind the tree awarded mega a 7 for his spectacular dismount.
16kms later 3 totally frozen riders arrived at La Chaux de Fonds in search of a hot shower and a bed'
The toughest and coldest 60 kms of cycling I've ever done and there is predicted better for the next 2 days - Yummy !
PS TTL climbing for the day was 1450 metres over the 60 kms !
But Kev, is it addictive? In the future will you not ride unless it is under 10 degrees and raining?
ReplyDeleteIt's expected to rain here tomorrow (Friday) so out of sympathy, i reckon Tour de Friday WILL ride!!!
Are there no trains where you are? What a day!
WMc
37kgs!! Now I understand what the squatters at No 11 are complaining about. No sink in the house - you've taken the bloody thing with you!!
ReplyDeleteGeez, we had it tough today. 20 degrees with a 20km northerly.
WMc