RAF2022 / CP2

Just after I left CP1 without any rest really, I felt that this was a good decision to make. Tailwind was there again and the feeling that I’m riding mostly downhill was strong. That’s why pretty quickly I cover quite a lot of kilometers, without making too much of an effort. This part of the route was going to be the flattest of the whole ride, and I knew that to make satisfying progress, I have to keep going, keeping my stops to an absolute minimum.

Around 11 PM the storm got active again. It wasn’t where I was riding but I could see in the distance that a lot of lightning is happening in front of me. I was trying to be up to date with where is it going etc and was checking the storm and lightning app every now and then and after midnight I decided to stop for 20 minutes power nap in Mansigné. It seemed to be the perfect combination for having a short rest and avoiding the storm, which was moving fast towards the northwest. It worked perfectly, the nap felt great and the storm moved on as planned. I could continue without worrying too much about the lightning.

The morning came nice and it was pretty warm. I was wearing nothing but a jersey and arm warmers and the only thing I was thinking of at that stage was a place for a good quick morning coffee and a portion of porridge, that I was carrying with me from the start line. After about 220 kilometers from CP1 in La Ferté-Saint-Cyr, I found the little coffee place. Even if it was officially closed yet, I was still served a coffee, a tart, and a big glass of warm milk where I could finally make and consume my porridge. Lovely place and everything was easier from there.

The plan for the next kilometers was pretty simple. Don’t stop, until my resupply point, which was on kilometer 1030, a Carrefour shop in Nevers. Being there only five minutes before the closing time, made me do my shopping quickly. I dumped everything into my backpack and as there was no rubbish bin around the shop, I couldn’t distribute all the shopping in my frame and top tube bags, which were full of rubbish from already eaten food. I moved on to the final stage of the day, the CP2 with my Apidura backpack pretty full, actually pretty packed with food.

Once again, I loved the landscape. The Burgundy with little but still demanding climbs, rolling up and down, some longer some super short, and pretty steep. All of that was amazing and it gave me a lot of joy. My achilles seemed to not be getting worst for some time now, so I was even happier when I arrived at Gueugnon.

I was trying to hold a steady pace for the whole day, so also while being on this CP I knew, that If I want my body and my achilles to hold on through the Alps and until the finish, I need a little sleep before I hit the road again. The other excuse for that was the heat, which was pretty hard for the final hours of this day, so I used the so-called „a shower and nap” thing and it did me really good.

It was about 9PM, and all the heat, salt, and sweat from the day were gone. After about one hour and thirty minutes from my arrival at the CP2, I was once again ready to ride into another evening and into the night. My next bigger planned stop was in the Alps already and I was pretty excited after this 1130 kilometers to finally be there.