Do you know that feeling: that you are in the back of the carts of a rollercoaster and that you are not yet at the top and your nose is still pointing upwards, but the train is already accelerating, because most of it is already over the top?
I had that kind of sensation a few times yesterday. Toiling we pedal our way up and without any indication it suddenly becomes a lot easier. So without your nose pointing down, you’re already going…
Your senses can’t be trusted when you ride a bike anyway. We all know false flat. I notice that between +1% and -1% really cannot be determined by own observation. But a few % change if it goes up about 8% neither. And then, if it goes up 10% and it’s really really tough, then you “flatten” it a little further down, so you want to keep going till you get there to recover. But when you’re there, you don’t see any flattening at all and it doesn’t get any easier. Only to suddenly go lighter in an unseen place.
Tessel is less “bothered” by delusion because she can’t see the way ahead of us. And she doesn’t have an angle of inclination meter that can play tricks on her either. She focuses on providing a constant power that she can sustain throughout the day. Me too, of course, but sometimes the disappointment of not flattening is too great (or have I delivered more than wisely assuming I can recover further up the road?) and then I have to step down while we drive 5km/h where we could previously continue with 3.5km/h. Tessel knows that, because she has the bike computer on her handlebars 🙂.
Once at an altitude of 800 meters, it is just under 13 degrees. The surroundings are also less inviting to camp in the wild than on the other side of the hill. We decide to try the 2 campsites by the sea. Sweater, rainsuits and gloves (!) on and we race down (good road with everything above 7%). Today rest day.
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