Monday 5 July 2010

Stage 5

Another long day in the saddle done and all in all it went pretty darned well, my major measure of the success of the day is being safe and sound at the other end of it, which I am. I'm delighted to say that the regime adopted with my knee seems to be paying dividends and there was a definite improvement today which was great and a huge relief, long may it stay that way, especially with tomorrow being the longest stage of the 2010 Tour de France.

I firmly believe that the use of my SKINS RY400 compression gear has helped me not just get ready for the next stage but also with this knee issue, the compression does make it feel more comfortable and wearing them for around 7 hours a night is I feel very beneficial to me.

Reaching the sunflower fields was a real highlight for me though all the scenery was generally very enjoyable. The roads in France just seem to stretch out in front of you for mile after mile, at the moment shimmering in the heat. This is not a trip for someone weak of will and sometimes the best thing to do is to concentrate on the next mile ahead and to break the whole thing up into more manageable pieces, I never think further ahead that the next water stop.

Went through some lovely little towns and managed not to get lost, the little markets are lovely and it would be nice to have the time to dally awhile and sample the local fare (which looks fab) but that is for the future with Lorena, hopefully in a camper van, that would be a really good trip to make one day soon.

Spent a bit of time this evening cleaning some of the debris off the bike and generally checking things over and, touch wood, the old steed seems to be bearing up very well, haven't bothered switching over to the ZIPP wheels yet as these seem to be rolling along nicely, might well make the switch at the first rest day but there are 3 more stages to ride before then, and it's going to be getting very lumpy soon.

Disappointed to see the protest on Le Tour today with the sprint not being contested, I think because a descent was felt to be too dangerous. Certainly the surface was pretty bumpy when I went down there but it would be a different matter in a large peloton. I reckon it's a great shame for all the people that have turned up/tuned in to see the show to have it essentially cancelled but that's just my opinion. I'd be pretty surprised if they are very happy when they see the final bend before the finish of stage 5 in Montargis where I finished today, could get very messy.

Anyway, off to sleep now, thank you for stopping by to check up on my progress, much appreciated.

Photographs from Today:

No, I'm not lost, it's just market day, every day is market day in France!
The trusty support vehicle.
I've reached the sunflowers!
Sunflower field – I'd always wanted to see them :-)

Today's Weather:

Very warm again with a crosswind for much of the day which became more helpful for the last 25km or so.

Ride Time: 08:09 hh:mm
Work Done: 3394kJ
Training Stress Score: 280
Intensity Factor: 0.615
Normalised Power: 188W
Variability Index: 1.35
Ride Distance: 116.5 miles
Elevation Gain: 5344 feet
Maximum Power: 741W
Average Power: 139W
Average Heart Rate: 116bpm
Average Speed - True: 13.9mph
Acute Training Load: 147.1
Chronic Training Load: 103.6
Training Stress Balance: -31.2

3 comments:

  1. Keep it up! Respect.

    (Stage 2 looked like a good race to do on your own...)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Keep the good work up you are doing brilliant !!!!!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. doing good there Quentin, enjoying following your adventure.

    ReplyDelete