Today's arrival was a long awaited moment between the boys in the A2A camp...it was our first day cycling with our fifth member, Laurie's Uncle, Paul. For those of you who may not know, the Varnish family, Uncle Paul and his wife Kandy allowed us boys, in May to spend 5 days out in the French Alps as part of the training regime. It was a seriously generous contribution. We had such a fantastic and valuable time out there that the return of the 5 man peloton was high on the priority list for all. He was spoilt....arriving to a convenient town with 'not a single campsite for miles' it was a hotel for the evening. Apart from the obvious benefits...air conditioning, towels, nice showers, a pool and even a TV we started our day with a very good value £3 breakfast.
The sun rose over the white Montoro buildings, yet today had a slightly different feel...was it the fact that we didn't have to pack our tents or even the lack of burnt smokey porridge courtesy of Julian?! No it was the fact that today we were leaving at 10am. We had a very quick 40 km, which found the now infamous Battle Bus lagging behind. As we waited for the support team to catch up, the inane chat turned to the incredible work of the local ants who clearly loved the oats falling from our snack bars, David Attenborough impressions all round.
We had 60km under the belt and so for another lunch spot off an incredibly well suited slip road, another fantastic feast was laid on. Consisting of tuna salad and tinned sardines, Julian has ensured us of the health benefits since his arrival and Fred has promised it will now be his university lunch of choice.
Although, in search of a direct and efficient route we have found ourselves following one or two roads, the scenery completely takes your mind off what could become a repetitive scene. Even the gun barrel straight routes fly by, maybe some of this is testament to the conversation between us all. For the past few days olive bushes have dominated the landscape. They create a pretty impressive picture over the rolling hills for miles and miles, it does however beg the question, how the hell are they harvested?! The answer is still in contention.
Once the post lunch dip had passed we did our quickest 10km of the trip on our approach to Puente Genil. We arrived with the one abode of the town in sight where we found the support crew suitably satisfied after a long awaited thé con leche. After an hour scouring the local amenities for a suitable means of accommodation we came to the conclusion that this 'terrible' 3 star hotel was our only option (spot the correlation since the Team 3 arrival) Rob, as the ever cautious accountant swallowed his pride and we were soon settled in with the final stage of the Vuelta on TV. A nap and a beer later we all tucked in to a veritable Carrefour feast ready for our penultimate day.
Today's distance: 56.7 miles
Average speed: 16.3 mph
Top speed: 39.3 mph
Time on bike: 3:30 hrs
Total Distance; 1196 miles
Max heart rate: 100% (200 bpm)
Average heart rate: 70% (140 bpm)
Calories burnt: 2320
- @Access2a
- www.access2africa.co.uk
