Adam keeps his word

Day 4: Wednesday 16^th March

Distance: 91 miles / 147 km

Ascent: 2788m

Ride time: 6hr 11mins (well, it was hilly and very windy!)

Average speed: 14.7mph / 24kmh, Max speed: 63kmh

Weather: partly cloudy (with heavy rain for about an hour too), 15 degrees, strong wind

Coffee stops: 1 (tostada an extra 50 cents here, but better than Monday)

Gels: 2 (taste quite good if REALLY need them. High 5 scientists have clearly eaten more apples than bananas)

While the weather forecasters broke their promise of sunshine and 18 degree temperatures, Adam was true to his word – it was tough today. But that came with a great sense of satisfaction as I reached the top of the climb on the way home after 6 hours in the saddle, battling against 35kph winds and heavy, cold rain up in the mountains.

The day started in the sunshine and we happily left our waterproof’s back at base. Focus today was to control effort used while on long climbs through managing my speed and energy output with mu newfound technical ability to understand my heart rate monitor. The target was set at 165bpm and off I set once again up Coll de Rates. This seemed to work effectively as I took about 2 minutes off Tuesday’s time ... however my legs were fresher as this was the first climb the day rather than the third.

Following a rather rewarding, sweeping descent, the big climb of the day was next up. Climbing from 240m to 960m to the summit in the Serrella Mountain range. The toughest thing on this climb was not the 21km slog up the hill (ave gradient just 3.5%), or the continuous train of Mercedes c-class tear-arsing up the mountain on a journalist review day, but the wind that was right in our faces as we climbed. At the summit it was so strong that neither of us were really moving.

A long sweeping  descent was our reward until we hit a few more climbs to add to the tally. As we hit 80km mark the rain started falling ... heavily. At this point it was head down and grind out the miles. We summitted the final major climb (alt >600m) and then spend the next 25km cruising down hill – a welcome rest for my increasingly weary legs. As we entered the town of Pego the sun even came out but we were being chased by the storm we’d just ridden through. A quick climb up got us into the next valley were the summit was a great opportunity to guzzle my second gel of the day in preparation for the final push up the home bound hill... at this point I’d eaten and drunk everything about my person (just a super-emergency gel stashed away in my saddle bag).

By now I wasn’t sure I’d make it up the hill back to the villa, my legs hurt and I was close to exhaustion. However, I was desperate to at least try, safe in the knowledge that if I failed, Adam could call Alex and she could drive down on a rescue mission. While the journey up was slow (19 minutes vs 15 minutes on Tuesday) just getting up it was enough for me.

Having gobbled all if my recovery snacks and improvised with a couple of a cold beers and a hot bath. A top day setting a number of firsts for me:

1)      First time I’ve enjoyed the experience of energy gel consumption

2)      Highest I’ve ever been on my bike

3)      Longest ascent (at 21km)

4)      Furthest I’ve ridden (only by a couple of miles, but a first none the less)



Today's route profile