Thursday 18 August 2011

En France Practice 1

Posted by Neil

As promised, I got my first of 2 consecutive 60 milers in today (well, 57.6 miles as it happens). We've had fabulously sunny weather so far here in South Brittany - sunny every day with highs of 26 degrees. Nice.

Today though, it dawned rather misty and somewhat cooler - perfect for a decent ride. I headed out of La Trinite-Sur-Mer to Auray, on to St Anne-de-Auray with its spectacular Basilica then Westish through Brec'h towards Landevant then through Nostang on towards the coast at Riantec and Port Louis, completing the loop via Plouhinec, Erdeven and Carnac / Carnac Plage.  I snacked on pain au chocolat once, pain au raisin and a banana with a large egg / cheese salad sandwich by the marina at Port Louis for lunch.

The countryside is very gently rolling with little or no hills to speak of, (max speed for the ride was 30.5 mph, so you can see there are no serious hills) but with the dampness in the air and a peak of approx. 21 deg C., it was a pretty easy ride out.  There was an occasional headwind, but if it was more than 5 kph I'd be very surprised.  Nice countryside and some good views, but nothing particularly spectacular.

I had a "for goodness shake" on my return so hopefully I'll be fully equipped for the second day tomorrow, which promises to be a little warmer.  Going to head East this time - hopefully to get some good views across the Gulf de Morbihan.

From today I learnt that a reasonably relaxed pace (averaging 13 mph actual riding speed, probably somewhat lower when you add in the 30 mins or so not cycling) and stopping every hour or so to grab some grub from a shop (we won't be carrying snacks from day 2 onwards) doesn't seem so bad for hitting our daily average distance in good time.

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