I've no idea what time I would have eventually woken up on Sunday if the maid at the hotel hadn't knocked on the door to see if she could clean the room at 11am.
Still it gave me an hour to slowly surface before check out.
Yesterday's epic meant I was getting relatively close to the end now, so I could look forward to a couple of more relaxing days on the bike.
I set out after a late lunch for the relatively short ride to Gronichem.
Mission control had informed me that the driving distance was around 63km, so I could take it easy.
I decided to follow the dijk on the north bank of the Rhine, and the first 10km was very pleasant and relaxing until I reached a roadblock. As I got closer I realised that a longish section of pathway was closed because of an organised bike race, and a couple of minutes later around 50 riders whizzed past to complete a lap.
I now had a bit of a dilemma, as I could see people being directed to wheel their bikes down the steep grassy bank and then along a bumpy dirt/grass track at the bottom of the dijk to avoid the closed section. I wasn't desperately keen on that as the bike is quite heavy when fully loaded, and I was also trying to avoid any further off-road adventures in order to preserve the rear wheel.
I spotted another guy wheeling his bike along the side of the closed section, stepping back onto the gras verge each time the race came through. If it was good enough for him it was good enough for me.
I nipped through the barriers when the race steward was looking the other way, and started making my way along the course stepping back and pulling my bike onto the grass each time the race passed through.
It wasn't until I got the other end and spotted him talking to a steward that I realised I had been following the lead of the official race photographer. Oops.
The rest of the ride passed without incident, although it did take me rather longer than I'd expected due to the distance along the dijk being about 20k longer than the official road route.
I arrived into Gronichem with a bit more time to relax and enjoy the city than usual.
Distance, 83km (est)
Time, 4hrs, 50mins (4hrs 20mins ride time)
Total distance covered so far, 1582km
Still it gave me an hour to slowly surface before check out.
Yesterday's epic meant I was getting relatively close to the end now, so I could look forward to a couple of more relaxing days on the bike.
I set out after a late lunch for the relatively short ride to Gronichem.
Mission control had informed me that the driving distance was around 63km, so I could take it easy.
I decided to follow the dijk on the north bank of the Rhine, and the first 10km was very pleasant and relaxing until I reached a roadblock. As I got closer I realised that a longish section of pathway was closed because of an organised bike race, and a couple of minutes later around 50 riders whizzed past to complete a lap.
I now had a bit of a dilemma, as I could see people being directed to wheel their bikes down the steep grassy bank and then along a bumpy dirt/grass track at the bottom of the dijk to avoid the closed section. I wasn't desperately keen on that as the bike is quite heavy when fully loaded, and I was also trying to avoid any further off-road adventures in order to preserve the rear wheel.
I spotted another guy wheeling his bike along the side of the closed section, stepping back onto the gras verge each time the race came through. If it was good enough for him it was good enough for me.
I nipped through the barriers when the race steward was looking the other way, and started making my way along the course stepping back and pulling my bike onto the grass each time the race passed through.
It wasn't until I got the other end and spotted him talking to a steward that I realised I had been following the lead of the official race photographer. Oops.
The rest of the ride passed without incident, although it did take me rather longer than I'd expected due to the distance along the dijk being about 20k longer than the official road route.
I arrived into Gronichem with a bit more time to relax and enjoy the city than usual.
Distance, 83km (est)
Time, 4hrs, 50mins (4hrs 20mins ride time)
Total distance covered so far, 1582km
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