Day 5 - Montsoreau - Parthenay 49 Miles

Just the stats: 49 miles, 15 MPH average. Started riding at 9:15 am, finished at 2:30 pm. Three hours 25 minutes riding time. Sunny, 62 to 88 degrees.  Elevation 635 feet – We started at sea level.

Calories burned on the ride - 3,252. My average heart rate during this ride was 128 bpm.

 

This morning we headed due south leaving the Loire River valley behind and rode into the Vienne and Charentes regions.

 

With only short rides on a main road, we followed quiet country roads (‘D’ routes) through gently rolling farmland.

 

The first four days were mostly flat with slight ups and downs.  Today we turned south and we saw more hills for sure; ½ mile to 1½ mile climbs on 3% to 5% grades were more common.  The riding is still not too difficult, just different.

 

FYI.  Here is a map of our ride:

 

A quick overview will show you we are heading into some monster climbs – I’m talking 5 to 8 mile climbs (look at all that grey and black in the south toward Nice).  Those are at the end so, let’s dream about that later.

 

We are getting into a routine now.  I get up around 7:30, get dressed, pack, have a very light breakfast, carry my luggage to the van, get my bike, check the air in my tires, get a little overview of the ride from Hannah, our group leader, leave around 9:15 am.

 

We ride about 15 to 18 miles to a coffee stop.  I would rather skip that but I promised Yvonne I would be sociable, so I stop.  The group hangs out there for about 45 minutes!  After about 10 to 15 minutes I forget my promise to Yvonne and get going – cold legs and all.

 

We stop for lunch with 20 +/- miles to go in the ride. The group stops for lunch for about an hour!  I usually leave after 20 minutes.

 

So that last leg of 20 miles takes about 75 or so minutes – this is usually the hardest part of the day for me.

 

I am boring myself so I will end now and tell you about what happens when we get in until we go to bed another time.

 

Enjoy the pictures. Click on picture to enlarg - it's worth seeing larger.

I love to see these sunflowe fields

As you can see, we still are on relativly flat land



Another view from our hotel room



View from our hotel room - see the church steeple in the background?