Mountain Stage - Again
Feeling a Bit Better on a Hill

Today's stage in France (and it really is in France) was a significant mountain stage with two Cat 1 and one HC. We all know that means I should do a bit of climbing in my own mock tour. You might think that since I live in a town named Round Hill I'd have an advantage in climbs, but it doesn't seem to be working out that way.

Whereas yesterday I put my legs to work in an attempt to scale the Blue Ridge only reaching about half way, today I tried a less aggressive climb. The actual elevation was unknown but it was low enough for me to climb twice in about 12 minutes - obviously it couldn't have been too much of a hill. I added about 23 Km of relatively flat riding to the climb and descent for a total of 25 Km in a little over one hour and 10 minutes for an average speed of 20.6 kph.

For tomorrow's mountain stage I've selected a ride somewhere between yesterday's embarrassment and today's success.

Oh, yeah. The real riders completed their ride of 176.5 Km in just over 4 hours and 30 minutes. They are remarkable.