19th July 2016
Day 18, Le Beage to Bourg-Saint-Andéol

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Garmin route for today - - Strava route for today

 

Start time: 08:48
Start location: xxxx
Start weather: xxxx
Total millage so far: 816.50

Stops: xxxx

Finish time: 00.00
Finish location: xxxx
Finish weather: xxxx
Miles today: 83.18 (Strava says - 83.1 = 909.5)
Total millage so far: 899.68
Today's top speed: 40.02mph (Strava says - 31.3mph !!??)
Punctures: 00

Music played:

Blog for the day:
God dam that was hard. Who made this route? The steep descent of 3000feet over 10miles was amazing, dangerous, fun, and frustrating when a van got in the way at the end. Well worth it though as we dropped out the Massif Central. There were some wild looking dogs which started to chase me down but I was lucky to get away.

What else? A long bumpy ride in to what's is called where Le tour went through last year. That was fun actually, cycling the same road up in to town at speed.

Next it was down to the Ardeche river, gorgeous but extremely touristy. Very naff and crappy in places, a lovely old town turned over to something like Magaluf!

It was a beautiful ride though and the scenery breathtaking. Highly recommend, but out of season. Lots of really crazy drivers today, they seem to be getting worse as we get further south! Plus the people seem more grumpy and rude. The climb of the day was a nightmare, very hard and long. Worst yet. Could be due to the heat and the 40miles we had already cycled to get to that point. Total f*ck up in my planning. Glad we swapped camping for a hotel tonight. It was just too hard, other more fit cyclists were whizzing up and down, even one which was bandaged up. Git! Was the view worth the effort? Not sure lol. My water boiled in the sun and I quickly ran out. Had to keep cycling in the hope I would find something, luckily a dinosaur park popped up. I think Roger joining me in the last mile or so stopped me from going mad and cooking. Also loads of writing on the floor and walls because the tours time trial used part of our route too

Lavender fields started to make an appearance too, so I think that is everything ticked off our list now! Just the sea to go. Tomorrow is more climbing but a shorter day to the foot of ventoux, the giant of Provence. We could easily see it today as it came in to view. Not sure if I will make it up or not to be honest. Also the vines have started to appear now we are off the mountains. .