Minervois

Here is just a taste of the ride I did today…my bike will show you the view…

It was a beautiful ride…It was from a town called Minervois in the Massif Central… We climbed up from there, over the bridge, through the town and along these gorges.  There was a cool natural bridge that we saw…

Chris told us that this climb is often used in the TdF, and it has the reputation of being a more frustrating climb then the Pyrenees since you never see the top… I wish Chris hadn’t told us that, because as we started the 1 hour climb, you never felt like you were going anywhere.  There were no mountains, no peaks, just a constant grade that meandered up a ridge line or something.  Like I said, I felt like I was riding in place. 

The views were pretty, but my legs were feeling strangely absent.  I thought back to my day yesterday…

• Proper  45 minute warm-up, check
• 15k TT, check
• Proper easy 1.5 hour cool down and easy spin, check
• Recovery drink, marginal
• Shoe Shopping with Sinead, check
• Touring Limoux by foot, check
• Fueling window recovery meal—absent until 8pm

Oops.  Didn’t recover very good yesterday.  I know better.  Oh well, it was a good lesson to remind me of the important recovery protocol.  The ride was beautiful anyway.  We ended the ride with a great dinner at an artist’s studio.  I tried to compensate by eating large portions tonight in hopes that I will be refueled for tomorrow’s race…  We are headed to Bordeaux!  As for now, I am confined to my bed to try to digest that meal and think about racing my bike tomorrow!