Day 6 Souraide, France

The day started out very overcast but it was business as usual. We are 2 days out from our first race here in France so it was a very easy day for me.  I only had to ride for 30 minutes just to turn the legs over.  It was decided that some of us would go to look at the Time Trial course and have a ride around it.

We headed over by vehicles to Cambo Les Bains with a map of the course in hand and a TomTom for directions but believe me it wasn't as easy as we thought it would be.  We finally found one of the intersections so followed the course backwards until we got to the start.  Talk about a technical course for Trikes and Hand cycles!  It comprises one fairly step downhill with a sharp 90 degree right hand turn at the bottom and a short but good climb, then 9 turns with 2 very big speed bumps and 2 roundabouts, all this in 4.1 km's!  Thank goodness this is a Time Trial and we go off one at a time. 

Jarrad and I did one lap slowly to work out the best areas of the road to be riding on and then I did a much fast lap to see what going around the corners and over the speed humps would be like at speed.  Not as bad as I thought, so I am looking forward to that race on Saturday.

The afternoon was spent with Peter D, Claire, Simone and Jarrad driving around St. Jean De Luz which is on the Basque Coast. Unfortunately we didn't end up stopping which is what I was hoping to do, but headed back to the house to meet everyone to go out for dinner.

We headed into Bayonne one of the larger cities in the area.  Bayonne was founded as a Roman fortified town at the junction of the Nive and Adour rivers.  The town prospered during the Middle Ages under the Kings of England and thanks to trade, cathedrals, cloister and castles were built during the late 16th century.  There was a cathedral however that was built between 1258-1450 after the original Romanesque buiding was damaged by fire. Then the spires were added in the late 19th century. And it stands prominently in the city.  The history here is incredible. Bayonne was equipped with a defensive system throughout the centuries in order to fulfill its military role.  Even today there is visible heritage and I could have spent a week there seeking it out. 

Unfortunately we were only there for dinner and after finding a lovely place right on the river we had a delicious Italian meal!  Yes Italian in France!  But let me tell you I enjoyed every bit of the pizza I had. It has been a long day so I am looking forward to bed and one last day of training before I get to race the Criterium which is being held in a place called Anglet just to the northeast of Bayonne and right on the coast. Once I can I will hopefully put some photos with these postings!