Day 3 Mane to Mirepoix

On tap--97 miles and 5,700 feet.  Per my Garmin (which crapped out twice today as described in an earlier post) I did 98 miles and 5,351 feet. This was a so-called "easy" day and, by the statistics, it is/was.  Still 100 miles is 100 miles. And it wasn't flat.  So, yeah, it wasn't an easy day per se.  But compared to what's to come this was as easy as it gets. It was a good ride, felt ok.  Pulled some.  As I mentioned in the Day 2 entry, however, only afterwards did I notice that my max HR was just 135--I thought I'd worked harder than that along the way.  I'm not sure how you restore the norm without rest, which we'll do Friday--for one day.  Not sure one day of every four will cut it.

Route overview from Relive.cc

Our hotel in Mane, France, for night 3:

Hotel de France, Mane, France

It was a nice looking hotel from outside, the rooms were very outdated and need some sprucing up. 

 I was nervous at the start of the day, not quite sure how I'd be feeling.  Given the pace we were riding, I felt fine and thought everything was good.  I didn't have too much trouble keeping up.  I wasn't dropped. . . much.  The group never had to wait more than a couple of minutes.  And I keep up fine on shorter, punchier climbs, fine on flats and descents.

Decent hotel, so-so food--I can't get enough food.  It had AC--that was welcome.  Smoking isn't allowed indoors, but they can smoke within any distance from an entry.  So they sit them just outside the door, with the door open, and a door open at the other end of the building so, naturally, the smoke comes indoors and we may as well have indoor smoking. 

Not sleeping well at all.  Wake up every night at 3 or 4, have trouble getting back to sleep--or I don't go back to sleep at all.

My thighs are extremely sore.  The sorest I've ever felt them.  You're supposed to back off when muscle tissue has been damaged like that, so it can regenerate/recover.  I can't do that.  Standing up to pedal is almost useless.  I stand up and my thighs tell me to sit back down.  I can't get the respite I'm looking for and my awesome amounts of power cannot be called upon. 

Grotte du Mas d'Azil--they've built a road through it. If you can spot it there is a little deck right above the middle of the opening that they use for bungee jumping.  No jumpers this day.

 Grotte du Mas d'Azil website

Google Maps and Street View of the Grotte

End of Day 3 with a few of the guys

Mirepoix, town center

800 year-old cathedral in Mirepoix

A Renault Kangoo!  Linda's and my favorite mode of transportation on our joint trips.