190km from Livarot in Normandy to Fougeres in Brittany we passed the home of Camembert cheese and several other famous french cheeses. We skirted the Calvados region – a shame we didn’t have time to stop and savour the delights. M family are not with us on this stage as the journey back to Rouen from Fougeres to return the motorhome was too long : too long?…and we’re doing it on a bike ! ? Yikes.

After a really tough day into the headwind to Le Havre and saying goodbye to the family who spent their last night of holiday in a carpark in Le Havre it was like a new beginning to set off form Livarot.

We departed in style from a SuperU carpark at the beginning of the route – I’m sure there will be more buntings and suchlike installed by the time the professionals come through tomorrow.
Weather was great and the route was one of rolling hills with only one category 4 climb about 12km from the start. However, the road out of Livarot was itself a steady climb of a few percent. If you know about long distance cycling or any form of stage races then you will know that the legs take quite a bit of warming up time. Starting with a long drag of a climb is tough for me as it usually takes me an hour these days to warm the legs up and get into a rhythm. The problem I now have is that I’ve developed a little soreness in the area that everyone has mentioned to me as I was training – the bum!

Saddle sores are problem for many racing cyclists and I listened to a story of how one of the staff on a pro racing team spends about an hour each day ‘”creaming the chamois” for all the riders. I had to laugh because it’s one of those subjects that people don’t often talk about but when it becomes a problem it becomes a really big problem. Having to sit on a saddle for seven or eight hours a day and do that when it’s sore to do so and then expect yourself to perform to a high level of strength and pedal cadence is a tall order.  So, needless to say, this stage was a big problem for me. Every time I sat down it hurt as I did so, every time I stood up on the pedals it hurt to do so, every time I tried to find the right position on the saddle in order to get into a good rhythm, or cadence, it hurt to do so.  All this while the team is still motoring on as we have time deadlines to meet to get to lunch or get to the end and to the hotel etc.

I will spare you any pictures of my soreness despite being told by my team colleagues here that the images of their injuries seems to have brought them more donations. I’m not sure my pictures would draw more donations but I can assure you that the pain is there in large doses and it draws all the mental energy I have to stay focussed on the ride and getting the miles and kilometers in.

1,125km done (that’s 703 miles)
2,219 to go (that’s 1,387 miles)