P2G Day 3 Semur-en-Auxios - Lons

Another totally awesome day today. Big hills, hot sunny weather and fast descents. No major concerns save my poor butt!
The day started with me chasing 2 guys from London, namely Richard and Andy. They set off a very short while before me and I caught and passed them quickly. I presumed they would chase me, but if they tried, they didn't catch me! Was a good first section with mostly flat road and only minor undulations. I felt real strong today and the voices in my head were telling me I was mighty. Reached the water stop first and made sure I ate 2 banana's here as I knew a big hill was not far away.

Set off from the water stop with Richard and Andy but soon left them behind (I think they needed to pee). Fantastic long quiet roads again. I spotted a wild deer during this section and had spotted a bird of prey earlier. It wasn't long till I encountered the hill I had been warned about. This hill was a very long climb, that seemed to go on and on and constantly turned and switched as I climbed. It reminded me of Shap hill and in a similar manner had a super descent once the top was reached. I made it to the top of this hill and could not see anyone behind me. Appeared that perhaps today was going to be a solo ride for me. The descent was awesome, this hill descended for over 5 miles! Such a long descent that it was my arms that were starting to feel the pain now as they pressed down on my drop bars for such a long time. What an awesome hill. Reached the lunch stop in first position again and felt really buzzed up. It was about 10 minutes before the next cyclist - Richard the Surgeon (who completed L2P with me), turned up and a further 10 minutes before Richard and Andy rocked up.

Folk were referring to me as an animal at the lunch stop. Was this due to my cycling or my eating habits I wonder?! Set off from lunch with Josh. Josh is such a strong cyclist and before long I was quite a distance from him but chased him and closed the gap somewhat. There was no major hill after lunch at all and we got to the water stop in quick time. Josh beat me there by a fraction. Jo the DA madam scoffed at me for going so fast and said I should take it leisurely and treat this as a recovery ride. I did not push my self to excess and changed down my gears when I felt uncomfortable. Jo always has something to say, she even told me off for an emergency pee during L2P. She kindly got me some cleat covers yesterday, which was nice. However, she marked the price up 40% which was not so nice. Anyways, back to the cycling..

For the last section I told myself I would take it more steady and set off with Richard the surgeon about a minute after Josh. We caught sight of Josh real soon and the voices in my head told me to chase him. I chased him, caught him, stuck with him for a while but then he left me for dead. This last section was mostly flat again but with about 2o miles to go I climbed this gradient and saw Josh was at the side of the road. I figured he must have punctured and was going to be a good samaritan and let him use my gas. Poor Josh however, had major bike menace. His rear mech had shifted into his spokes and consequently was completely bust and had also ripped his mech hanger clean from his bike. I waited for a while but there was little I could do. Richard the surgeon rocked up soon after and we left Josh and continued our journey. When the next slight decline was reached it was Richard the surgeon who said 'go on Tim' rather than the voices. On I went and reached the hotel in pole position! Fantastic day and got to the hotel just in time to watch England play Slovenia in the World Cup. Maybe I should have a couple of celebratory beers?! (I did end up having Chablis wine last nigh too).

Feel so good today and just hope I feel the same this time tomorrow. I don't have many miles to worry about. I think it's about 70 miles till I reach Geneva, the end point of my challenge. It's just that the next 55 miles are up hill and I have to climb a mountain...

Aha, as I sign off from this blog, England have just scored!

Cycled a distance of 98.89 miles at an average speed of 16.3mph and a max speed of 36.7mph. Spent 6 hours and 3 mins on the saddle today.