Trans Provence day 1 and 2

So, here we are in Colmars day 2, after barely -or actually not really fully- surviving day 1. Day 1 was announced as the hardest day of the week, about 10 hours of riding and many many hours going up they said. For a moment I thought they might be pulling our legs…

Fully loaded backpacks with food and drinks, we set off on a fireroad uphill and we where just thinking… this we can manage… It was about to turn ugly.

Too much… too much… error…

Ash pointed out some tree near a signpost I couldn’t even see so far away it was. And high too. Just putting one foot after another and keep on walking, for a looooooong time. Sang some songs in my head and refrained from worrying too much. Because to be honest… I didn’t know how I was going to survive this day. Annemieke neither.

At one point we needed to carry the bike up, but there was no obvious path… so we’d just aim for the tree that was getting somewhat more visible… That was just to get to the first descent…

9ish we started off and around 14:30 we rolled in for lunch. And yeah… this was about all I could take at this time. We both couldn’t go on for another session like that. We cave in and we hopped on the bus and slept the rest of the afternoon trying to recover for the next day.

Day 2: another great day in the office

Monday we woke up pretty relaxt and ready to go. We had seen the profile of today and it promised a huge climb from the start. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a climb like this one. It was about meter per meter ascent at one point. We’d take a mini break every minute or so and did 500 meters uphill in the first hour. It was the hardest thing I’ve ever done, apart from dying on Sunday ofcourse.

But we didn’t die today. We made it at 1750 meters, had a good feed and an awesome trail down. This was so rewarding, so much hard work and a good downhill as a treat. Wanted more… and got more 🙂 did 1600 up and a total of about 30km. We made it through today with the biggest smiles on our faces, great riding and good vibes all around. Tomorrow more, less climbing… Yeah actually NONE!

ps. Sang 23 potjes met vet…