Penultimatum

We breakfasted in the very fancy hotel restaurant, the same pastry, bread and strong coffee we have now come accustomed to. Despite our best efforts to leave before 9am, a GPS malfunction held us back. We were expecting a hard day today, almost 200km with three big cols along the way. The cycling started off great and we cruised up and down the first col. We managed to beat Alisa to lunch at Ax les Therms, a ski resort at 700m altitude. This was hardly a surprise, as she took the morning off from being the support car slave and lounged in the beautiful hotel. Mick didn’t back his cassette again, so James and Andy set off alone towards the next col, Col de Puymorens, at 1950m. The climb went smoothly and we managed to avoid the tunnel through the mountain to meet the car at the top, before donning warm gear for the descent. After a very brief visit back to Spain, the next col loomed, much smaller, but after 140km, just as hard. We all got up and started the 40km long descent to Prades. This was down a beautiful valley, cutting back on itself every kilometre or so. Before long we approached our destination, to find the hotel full of Canadian (from Ontario – an eye-roll from Alisa) cyclists on an arranged tour. While these guys had cycled the same distance in the same time as Andy, James and Mick, they clearly knew what they were doing. Their tour guide was clearly appalled at the amount of alcohol consumed on the trip, including the frequent beer breaks on the cycle itself. During our dinner alone, the 15 Canadians showed no mercy to 62 beers and at least 9 bottles of (fine??) French wine. Andy, James and Mick took a more sensible approach and stuck to soft drinks. The same couldn’t be said of Alisa, who continued her one-woman struggle against the 3.5l jug of sangria purchased earlier in the week. Everyone is looking forward to the last day, though probably for different reasons.
Distance: 197 km
Moving time: 7h48m
Average speed: 25.2 km/h
Metres climbed: 3689m
Calories burnt: 8984kcal