Stage 5 - Thrills of a scenic and challenging day

Hard data of the day
 

Day: Wednesday 8 May 2024
From: Port Vendes 
To: Peralada

# kilometers: 66km 
# altimeters: 1400m
# flat tyres: 1

Hero of the day

Reinforced by at least five bananas, Stijn DM withdrew his earlier decision of the day to start anyway, which is of course not surprising for a lawyer. And Stijn managed to ride with the team all day. Big kudos to Stijn and without any doubt you deserve the medal for the hero of the day.

Trivia of the day
 

The dessert of the day was the climb of Sant Pere de Rodes: a 7,7 climb with an average grade of 9%. Everybody succeeded in concurring this giant. We suffered a lot. While climbing on the steepest part of the mountain, two riders noticed a fellow partner coming from the opposite side and make a U-turn. Apparently the rider Glenn V. really enjoyed that steepest part of the climb that he decide to do this part twice in a row. Congrats Glenn for earning the trivia of the day.

Story of the day
 

As I already stated in yesterday’s blog, I will repeat that the dinners are a perfect place and opportunity for data gathering. I insist to thank heartily our fellow cycling partner Vincent F. for offering us the outstandingly good wines. His visionary choice ended up in a perfect blend between the food served in the hotel and the wine chosen. It was clear that the taste of the high quality wine lingered for a long time in one’s mouth.

Let me explain my observation. As most of the fellow partners refused to take a fifth consecutive piece of salmon they made their choice for dry chicken. After chewing for half an hour on the chicken one can be sure well marinated cocq au vin fibers remain between the teeth for hours.

It was also clear that the wine was a mood changer, it resolved all tensions that arose between the fellow cycling partners during the day.

I had a very revealing conversation with Joris B. about a training he is interest in to become a skilled bike mechanic. Due to a lack of time this training didn’t came to a start yet. Nevertheless these skills would have been useful to learn how to fix a saddle to prevent it from sinking into the seat post.

This morning, I figured out Stijn DM was not feeling well due to problems with the stomach. It was nice to see how many people at the breakfast table spontaneously offered medical assistance to Stijn. Stijn decided this morning to skip the ride.

Today we had a bit of a special start of the cycling journey. We gathered together at the entrance of the hotel. To avoid the confrontation with Perpignan’s dangerous early morning traffic, a coach transported us to our starting point. I sat close to the bus driver. The man appeared to be at sea. He was convinced he was privileged to drive the Belgian National Cycling team. He was too star struck to request Philippe DS’s autograph.

We started our journey of 66 km and 1309 alt meters. Leading the pack supported by a soothing tailwind I had the chance to have a chat with Bert T. He became a partner in 2018. Surprised by the good atmosphere and camaraderie between the cycling partners, he regretted not having registered earlier. On Strava Sofie VB asked me to describe the feeling on the bike today. I will give it a try,…. Supported by a magnificent corniche view on the Mediterranean we waved goodbye to La Douce France and we welcomed Spain into our hearts.

Reinforced by at least five bananas Stijn DM withdrew his earlier decision of the day to start anyway, which is of course not surprising for a lawyer. And Stijn managed to ride with the team all day. Big kudos to Stijn and without any doubt you deserve the medal for the hero of the day. Please take into consideration that, given the fact you devoured all those bananas, tomorrow you might cope with other discomforts.

We intended to take a group picture on the France/Spain border but due to the stormy wind we didn’t succeed. Since we weren’t trained for a paragliding descend we decided to go down by bike very cautiously.

Did we take the right decision to do so? I don’t know, the answer is blowing in the wind.

The dessert of the day was the climb of Sant Pere de Rodes, a 7,7 climb with an average grade of 9%. Everybody succeeded in concurring this giant. We suffered a lot. While climbing on the steepest part of the mountain two riders noticed a fellow partner coming from the opposite side and make a U-turn. Apparently the rider Glenn V. really enjoyed that steepest part of the climb that he decide to do this part twice in a row. Congrats Glenn for earning the trivia of the day. 

After the climb we often enjoy the descend. But this time it was a challenge. The rider in front of me was Caroline C. She will not blame me when I disclose the fact she’s a cautious descender. At a certain speed during a descend, a race bike can become unbalance and start to sway, which in combination with crosswinds naturally makes it very dangerous. The technical term for this phenomenon is shimmy.

At a certain moment, Caroline’s bike started to sway for seconds. I immediately recognized the phenomenon.

Luckily she was able to balance the bike. Our bunch of riders came dawn safely. Down the mountain I told the team of riders Caroline experienced shimmy but luckily she could balance the bike. Els VP immediately asked “who the hell is Jimmy?”

At 3 km to the finish line we witnessed an attack attempt of a fellow cycling partner. No counterattacks occurred . We will not disclose the name of the rider, we granted this great guy his moment of glory. 

I also want to thank the French reporter Corinne for the nice article in Midi Libre- Lodève et Alentours. 

Looking forward to tomorrow’s ride. 

Dirk