Day 5: Whatever we do…Cycling Event 2010 - Alpe d’Huez |
Details
From: Puligny-Montrachet (France), Place des Marronniers
To: Monthieux (France), Château du Brueil
Distance: 162 km
Weather: Some rain in the morning. Cloudy in the afternoon. Temperature between 5°C (in the morning) and 13° C (in the afternoon)
Based on our experiences over the last week, we have lost our faith in the official weather forecasts. Therefore Dirk C. decided to make his own predictions. During breakfast he spoke the famous words: “today the weather might be good or it might be bad”. Little did he know how right he was and not just once but twice. In the morning the weather was indeed bad, but in the afternoon it was good. This confirms once again: whatever we do ourselves we do better.
Yesterday I wrote about what partners do to be mentioned in this blog. I predicted we had not seen the last of it. The ink of my words was not yet dry or it happened. Today we had our first flat tire before we even started. My congratulations to Piet D. This confirms once again: what we do ourselves we do faster.
And fast we were today. We left at 8.30 AM for a trip of over 162 km and arrived at our destination before 16.00 PM. This means that, when we deduct our breaks from the total time, we drove against a speed of about 26 km/hour. Included in these 162 km were our first three real cols.
For lunch we stopped at Chardonnay. Our outpost woke up the only restaurant operator the village has and could convince the poor man to bake French fries and scrambled eggs for the whole team. You should have seen the eyes of the team when the first dishes were served, even better have a look at today’s’ blog photo. You can recognize a Belgian by the way he eats his French fries. In less than an hour we finished lunch. This confirms once again: whenever we eat French fries we eat faster.
Here is another illustration of how fast we were. After lunch we agreed with our van driver that he would look for a nice place to have a cup of tea or coffee, some 50 km ahead and wait there for us. Imagine his surprise when he arrived at the agreed upon village but came to the conclusion the bikers were ahead of him. Some confirmed me afterwards that the French fries gave them wings. This confirms once again: whatever we do ourselves we do faster.
Today our team was reinforced by Yves F, managing partner of the Luxembourg firm and Hans DM. Both joined us on their bikes. Especially Hans surprised us by his speed. Without any practice he was faster than any of us. Maybe the 1200 cc on his bike helped him a little but nevertheless, great performance. As of tomorrow Donald N and Wim V will join us as well. A warm welcome to all of you.
Furthermore some of us expect their spouses to join us this evening. From experience I know that the presence of the ladies increases the macho behavior of our bikers. Read all about in tomorrows’ blog. Just one advice to these gentlemen: whatever you do this evening, don’t do it faster…
