Day 7 Saint Pierre de Riviere to Mane

Today called for 93 miles and 11,000 feet of climbing. I got 93 miles and 10,440 feet.  The Garmin didn't crap out a single time today.  Second time out of 7 days. 


Relive.cc St Pierre Riviere to Mane

 I'll re-arrange all the photos into some kind of order as soon as I can.  Probably Wednesday.  The wifi here in Mane is atrocious.  I got some good cow footage on the summit of Col d'Agnes--couldn't download it to YouTube (wifi again).  I'll try later and add it if it works.

Gotta go to bed.  Four passes today in 93 miles, five passes in 93 miles tomorrow.

Heading out on D17 towards Col de Peguere, early on Monday morning, having just left St Pierre de Riviere--a 4 col day today, preparing for a 5 col day on Tuesday. 

Looking down the other side of Col de la Core.

Descent of Col de la Core.

Summit of Col d'Agnes.  I rode well on Day 7, the whole day.

Pano shot of col d'Agnes, looking towards the way we came up. 

Descent of the Col d'Agnes.

Descent of Col d'Agnes.

I had a descent climb up Col de la Core. Felt good.  Maybe wasted myself a little for Day 8?

Descent from Col de la Core.

Summit of Col de la Core.

Summit of Col d'Agnes--with herd of cows having moved in. 

Our stay in Mane was the same as the first time we passed through Mane, Hotel de France.

Hotel de France, Mane, France

Day 6 Quillan to Saint Pierre de Riviere

Garmin farted out three times today, now won't connect to my iPhone via Bluetooth.  Piece of crap.

Ended up with 77 miles, 8,501 feet compared to advertised 79 miles and 8,652 feet.

Relive.cc overview.

Our hotel in Saint Pierre de Rivere:  Auberge de la Barguilliere, Saint-Pierre-de-Riviere, France.

First night last night where I could sleep easily.  Ruined by having to get up 7-8 times--probably too much liquid trying to remain hydrated.  It was a long night.

Beautiful ride today with the Col de Pailheres the highlight.  I believe it gained 5,000 feet in about 9.5 miles.  I wasn't sure how I was going to feel after last night.  Surprisingly the legs were feeling pretty good--still not enough to stay ahead of the fastest guys in the group, but good for me.  And for whatever reason, the soreness that was so intense the other day has subsided despite my not having given my poor legs any real rest.  I was led to believe that muscle soreness is caused by damage to the muscle tissue and rest was needed to allow the damaged tissue to regenerate, presumably stronger now for the effort.  I didn't give the legs any rest to allow that process to happen--so what happened?  I'll have to ask my doc.

For now, I'm just posting photos, with captions and perhaps some more details on Wednesday--our next "rest" day.

Looking towards the descent we'd be taking from Col de Pailheres.

Looking back where we'd come up Col de Pailheres.

Road coming up Col de Pailheres.