Despite the relatively short distance today always had the potential to be a tough day with two passes in excess of 4,000m, the altitude we were starting from and some 30km of gravel in the middle. Add to that the fact that in the middle of the night the wind swung 90 into a very strong and blustery westerly which was going to make it a head wind the whole way.
Stage 62 rider notes
I’d clearly chosen a tent spot well yesterday because I was woken by my alarm this morning, something which rarely happens since I’m usually disturbed by other campers around me.
Out for morning ablutions and I discovered that it was pretty chilly – my Garmin said 4ºC in my tent which despite being mostly mesh is still a couple of degrees warmer than outside. Thankfully we were breakfasting at 0600 which meant by the time I was dressed, packed and ready to take my tent down the sun had arrived.
Breakfast done and I was on the road by 0615. Usually the wind dies down overnight but this morning it was really blowing which at that temperature made things feel pretty cold on the bike, even with four layers on!
I was making steady but unspectacular progress though moving faster than many so I eventually caught up with Grant and Jackie (who always leave first, usually about 10 min before I do) and for a few km we took turns at being at the front and working directly into the wind however once we started the climb to the first pass I soon pulled ahead of them and was making progress into the wind myself.
Shortly thereafter the gravel started and it was fairly unpleasant, particularly to climb, but over time I got to the top – another unmarked pass, almost imperceptible in the head wind before continuing down.
One pleasant surprise for the day was that the gravel wasn’t continuous between the two passes and we ended up with about 10km in the middle with reasonable pavement which certainly helped because the gravel is that really crap ‘we just graded the seal off the top’ stuff.
The guys had difficulty finding somewhere to get the van off the road for lunch so in the end had simply stopped on the side of the road and set up – given that at the point I got there I’d seen a total of six vehicles on the road it wasn’t a big risk!
There were only 5km from the lunch stop to the top of the second pass and it was more gradual than the climb to the top of the first with the rough gravel and head wind it took some time, then the next 5km were more-or-less flat, which with prevailing conditions made them pretty tough going as well!
Me at the top of our last 4000+ metre pass
Once we hit the steeper descent the wind had less of an impact and it was more about making sure you weren’t going too fast and therefore likely to end up in a heap on the road. The valley that we’ve come into is pretty amazing, with incredibly clear rivers running through the bottom.
Where rivers converge
Onto the pavement and the combination of pavement and gradient made progress swifter despite the unrelenting wind (do you get the feeling it was windy today yet…?)
Camp is at a hot spring, though it’s not really a spring as a hotel (of sorts) has been built there with thermal pools available – I’ve yet to go in however others have reported that it’s pretty darn hot, so given that I’m not a huge fan of such things I may give it a miss.
The wind is continuing to blow – in fact if anything it seems to have increased. In theory it’s going to blow out over night, but I’m not convinced it’s going to happen!
Riding data
| Total distance: | 84.41 km | Total Time: | 05:31:19 |
| Max elevation: | 4254 m | Min elevation: | 3570 m |
| Total climbing: | 1019 m | Total descent: | -1322 m |
| Average speed: | 15.29 km/h | Maximum speed: | 75.96 km/h |
View from my tent
Not quite from my tent, but the river below camp
