A good steady day clocking up the kilometres. We have settled into the routine and have done over 500km now. Weather conditions good-still hot but more cloudy with a breezy hour after lunch. Good for the cycling but less good for the comedy shorts/gloves/watch tan lines everyone is working on.The pace was fairly even at around 25km per hour and Killer and the Polish crew as always add a professional touch to the city sections of the ride with slick traffic control on some of the junctions (holding the cars lets the group all pass as a unit). The hospice visit today was at Wloclawek, which is a relatively large hospice and helps disabled and orphaned children as well as adult patients. We said goodbye to the three riders from Lichen Stary who had joined us for today's leg.
The writer (Emily today) carried out an ipod swap with Andrew, receiving some lively drum n bass. In a desperate bid to gain a competitive edge I passed him a sleepy ambient playlist. It failed as a tactic as it didn't seem to slow him down at all, but at least I got to listen to some good race tunes.
Accommodation is at a relatively remote farm stay and the day finished with a thrilling 2km sprint for the farm. The main contenders were looking at each other nervously from the start of the farm road, with Ewa lighting the blue touch paper with an ambitious early bid slotting in between Pawel and Arek/Killer. Pawel was first to respond, chasing Ewa down over the next 500 metres while Jez, Andrew, Chris and Alex followed. The valiant early attacks ultimately failed, leaving the group chasing down the to the finishing line for a bunch sprint. Unexpected sand traps put paid to the chances of Chris and Ewa, while Stu made a late move and put himself into contention. Some dubious tactics from the Fujitsu train looked to have finished Stu's chances, but he made a second kick and left Jez and Andrew to ruminate about their failures while he crossed the line victorious. Showers and recovery beers all round with some post race analysis followed.
The writer (Emily today) carried out an ipod swap with Andrew, receiving some lively drum n bass. In a desperate bid to gain a competitive edge I passed him a sleepy ambient playlist. It failed as a tactic as it didn't seem to slow him down at all, but at least I got to listen to some good race tunes.
Accommodation is at a relatively remote farm stay and the day finished with a thrilling 2km sprint for the farm. The main contenders were looking at each other nervously from the start of the farm road, with Ewa lighting the blue touch paper with an ambitious early bid slotting in between Pawel and Arek/Killer. Pawel was first to respond, chasing Ewa down over the next 500 metres while Jez, Andrew, Chris and Alex followed. The valiant early attacks ultimately failed, leaving the group chasing down the to the finishing line for a bunch sprint. Unexpected sand traps put paid to the chances of Chris and Ewa, while Stu made a late move and put himself into contention. Some dubious tactics from the Fujitsu train looked to have finished Stu's chances, but he made a second kick and left Jez and Andrew to ruminate about their failures while he crossed the line victorious. Showers and recovery beers all round with some post race analysis followed.