Stage 5

Finally got soaked, all day.  Apart from a couple hours in the middle, I spent most of the day in the rain.  That didn't help the friction on my seat either.  At one point I thought a coffee break would help, but I left with numb hands and feet, shivering uncontrollably for about 30min because of the wind from riding.  It was really nice up on the North coast though, and sunny for a bit.  Then the rain and wind came hammering in.  Sheets of rain slamming across the road, inches of standing water. 

My left knee and hip were a little sore all day, probably from those 15% slopes at the end of Stage 4.  On top of that, it was the first rain in this area for a while, so the roads were slippery.  This all amounted to my easiest effort of the Tour so far, even though a harder effort might have kept me warmer!

Cap Frehel was awesome.  Really big sandy beaches and nice blue water... but we couldn't really enjoy them due to the deluge.  Pretty cool seeing hundreds of campers lining the road up to the finish too.  They went on for a few kilometers from the main beach town to the finish. 

And a quick note about the photos... I can't help but notice that there are lots of churches and fields, but that's pretty much inescapable in these parts. 


167.61km in 6:52:13 for an avg speed of 25.4km/h and avg power of 123W (151W normalized).  Not counting the time trial, each day the power has dropped.  Not necessarily on purpose either, I'm just getting really fucking tired!  ...and I'm only 5 days in!