Slept like a log last night which was badly needed. Crawled out of my pit at round 9am, still plenty of time for breakfast, and what a breakfast: oats, scrambled eggs, bacon, sausages and nice big mug of black coffee.
Fueled for the day, time to head to Haute Route (HR) village for registration, official sign in and collect the obligatory swag bag, it's a pretty good bag:
- Mavic jersey & gilet
- Kitbrix back pack
- Haute Route travel bag (90L)
- Cycling hat
- Back light
- Hydration pack
- Bib number
- Bike plate
Also had to buy the official HR t-shirt, as Abi will confirm, I don't have enough cycling t-shirts :-)
Having taken in the atmosphere at the HR Village it was time to go for a ride. Plan was 90 min endurance ride with some tempo sets. I wasn't sure what to expect because after a 9 day or so tapper period my legs felt terrible on Wednesday. I choose a route with flat and down to spin my legs gently before hitting a climb for the tempo work. Much to my surprise and joy I felt pretty good, certainly a lot better than I did on Wednesday. I didn't push hard at all but was very pleased with the ride:
Time: 1:50
Distance: 30 miles
Avg Speed: 16 mph
Elevation Gain: 2,780 ft
Calories 1,189
Post ride I focused on getting the bike ready for stage 1 tomorrow. Then shower, hydrate and a bite to eat while sitting in the sun, it's gonna be a very different day tomorrow so enjoying the down time while I can.
Dinner was good this evening, everyone on our tour group was there, 22 riders in all from all over the place with a surprising number of Aussies. There are two guys who did the 7 day Pyrenees race last week - animals!
Will, our tour guide, gave us the full rider briefing while we tucked in our meal, salad to start followed by a kinda 'boil in the bag' salmon and vegetable medley with mixed rice on the side, tasted better than is sounds.
Now to bed, breakfast is at 6am in the morning with a 730am start time, mixed feelings of both excitement and trepidation - it's gonna be a blast.
Nite nite