Day 11: Angers - Alencon
The unsung heroes of this ride are the backup team, Chris, Malcolm, Stuart, Chris and when he’s not cycling, Old Bill. They look after our every need, take our luggage to the rooms at each hotel and then load it all back on the next morning. They then have to get to a market and buy the lunch and water (we are using around 75 litres a day at the moment due to the heat) and then race off to make sure they are waiting for us when we make our first stop. In addition Chris and Stuart have repaired a puncture, serviced the brakes on the truck and repaired a broken exhaust. They are now checking out the clutch on the hired van to make sure it gets us back to England.
Another big day today, probably 85-miles so it’s an early breakfast and off before it gets too hot. We find our way out of town quickly and are soon on the right road heading for Alencon where we will hopefully arrive by 4.00pm. We are a well balanced team by way of ability and so up until now we have managed to stay in a group (in cycling terms a Peleton) for most of the time although we tend to have rather a long tail on the hills. When cycling along we pair up for a chat on the quite roads and then string out in a line on more busy roads and as the days go by we find out more and more about each other! Our first stop was after 35-miles is at Sable-sur-Sarthe and as the temperature was already in the eighties we are very glad to see the backup team. Very soon we are off on our way again, the road is undulating rather than hilly and we make good progress and arrive at our lunch stop in quick time. The team had found a very interesting place for lunch at Neuvlette-en-Charnie, it appeared to be a wooden bus shelter with seats inside but it’s unlikely there has ever been a bus service around here as it’s so rural. It was too hot in the shelter so we sat under the shade of the trees as it was cooler and tucked into the lunchtime special of spit roasted chicken; someone in the team said they get better food from the backup team than they do at home but I’m not saying who that was!
After lunch the cycling was tough because the temperature was once again getting close to 100f and we were gently climbing hills for the first hour or so but then, much to our great surprise, we saw that the road ahead was downhill for several miles with a smooth surface, thank you God! I’m not sure who clocked the fastest speed but Old Paul is known for being a downhill maniac, Roger must have hit 40mph as did Matt and Colin with David and Graham not far behind. Valerie and Melissa were more cautious but still fast, whereas Mark, Sean and I just took it very gently and enjoyed the view. We then stopped for drinks at a wonderful location by the river at Fresney-sur-Sarthe. After peaches and pineapple we refilled our water bottles and headed off once again and within two minutes we were grinding up a very long hill in the blistering heat but once at the top it was downhill all the way to Alencon and our hotel, having completed another 84-miles.
Alencon by the way is a lovely town and worth a visit sometime.
View photos from our eleventh day: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bikeride2010
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