On Saturday the Vuelta went to Andorra in a huge mountain climbing stage which showcased another battle between the three big Spaniards (Contador, Valverde and Rodriguez) and Chris Froome. The stage showed up the weaknesses in some of the big names as Contador assumed he’d won, shifted into an easy gear, and was pipped to the line by Valverde in his second goal poaching stage win. Froome also seemed vunerable as he got dragged into the games of the Spanish trio, almost coming to a complete halt to try and bring Contador through during an attack at 2KM from the end.
On Sunday the race headed to Barcelona with a vicious little uphill sprint finish with Rodriguez extending his race lead as he finished just behind Gilbert in a break. With time bonuses he went into the rest day 53 seconds clear, leaving Froome a fair amount to do in tomorrow’s time trial if he’s going to take the lead.
Yesterday’s rest day saw the race transfer right across the country.
While all this went on in blazing sunshine I took advantage of a trip west to get some riding in on the mountain bike, newly properly converted to 1x9. My Saturday was a loop from Lambourne up to the Ridgeway and past the ancient monuments of Uffington white horse and Waylands Smithy. It was a fairly easy ride in terms of technical sections which suited me to check out how the new chain retention device was working, however it was a ride dominated by thunderstorms rolling around the landscape.
Ultimately, and perhaps inevitably, the rain caught up with me and I got drenched, and soaking wet ice-like chalk on a quick descent put me on the deck with no warning, as I tried to make a slight adjustment. On the plus side everything looked good with the new set-up and it’s another ride to add in just off the M4.
On Sunday I took the bike to a classic ride form my past as I put it round a loop on Blackdown on the Mendips. Recently I’ve tried to be clever here and make better routes than the ones I know well. This time I had decided not to do this and stick to a fun fast hour-long ride I know well. However, curiosity got the better of me and in trying to cut out a long road section I ended up with a trudge through endless bogs, riding where I could, but mostly losing the bike up to the hubs into foul sludge.
On the sections I knew I had as much fun as ever and blasted the paths I’ve ridden for years with the confidence of knowing the bends and drops. The Mendips has some superb flowing singletrack if you find the right tracks and I miss it as my local playground. There are even some cheeky downhill trails springing up which are worth another look.
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