Haute Route Alps, stage 5. Puncture fun.

Stage 5, the day after the Time Trial. An early start, we are kicking off at 07:00, but the start is 14k away. So this means leaving the hotel at 06:15, and we were told breakfast was from 05:30. All a bit tight on timings for my liking. After the wet day on stage 3 my brake pads were destroyed so we had to fit a new pair early door. The stage today comprised of four climbs, one was a proper climb and the other three shorter drags. Nothing too challenging, though the little known climb was seriously steep from what we had been told at the briefing. After these four climbs the clock would stop at the summit, then a non timed descent and onto a 60k rolling road to Digne.

Firts climb and the top guys hit the gas, I as usual was gapped but started to close them down over the first five minutes. Then every ramp that followed a bit of a dig and then a settle down. people were consistently being dropped off in these little digs. We crested after around thirty minutes and descended reasonably smoothly ready for the super steep climb, They had said it was 9% average grade, so steep. I actually believe the climb itself was more like 10-11% average, for twenty minutes I never saw single figures. All the little guys were loving this one. This climb did drag on, it was only short but the speed was so slow it was taking forever. Summitting within a few seconds of a few other riders I guessed the descent would be steep mirroring the side we climbed. Yes it was, steep and winding, terrific! Once down the dangerous section I had found four friends to do the lumpy section with.

We were working well as a group, then out of nowhere I started to hurt. I had obviously hurt every day since Venice but this was a different hurt. I was struggling to stay on the wheels on the flat and at a lower power. Twenty minutes of pain and we started to climb. I was eating a shed load of food trying to get the pain away thinking I may be running now on energy. This seemed to work, we crested and I decided to grab a quick bit of Coke and a banana at the feed stop. This was a risk as I then had a big chase to get back in the group we had formed. What was maybe ten minutes of really tough work I got on the back of the group and joined the chain ganging. We were blasting down a steady descent into a head wind!

The final climb was a steady one and we remained as a group until the timing mat appeared. We ate plenty of grub at the feed stop and rolled down a tricky un-timed descent. The final section was one for a group working together. All was going well until I noticed with 40k of the section to go my front tire was going flat, s**t. I tired to just sit more on the back wheel but it was too flat to carry on so I had to leave the group and stop, I re-pumped it up and got back on. The tire was lasting around 5k until it become too dangerous to steer and a refill with my pump. Long story short I lost over eleven minutes to the group I was in. Very annoying, especially after I checked out the tube once back in the hotel and it was not a puncture, but a leaking tiny hole right on the valve. So a defect inner tube.

Tomorrow we have a long section of no categorised climbs then ending with Mont Ventoux. Hopefully I can stay with the leaders as long as possible, Ventoux is gong to be a long long climb.