Resita to Baile Herculane

July 3rd
127km (1,873m vertical)

Tough day of climbing, but I really enjoyed it.

We left the hotel at 7am to beat the heat. Combined with the time change when we entered Romania, it was much cooler riding this morning. Even in the afternoon it only got up to 93F, which was much nicer than 98F.

Most of the day was spent climbing. I was one of the last to leave the hotel, but I passed everyone on the initial 20km climb and was the first to reach the “summit”. I put “summit” in quotes because we only got a short downhill section before climbing and descending, climbing and descending all the way to lunch. Great scenery though.

Early lunch at 45km and then a second snack truck at 80km with fruit and cold water. After lunch, Nicole had tired legs so I rode with her at a leisurely pace and took lots of photos. At the end of the day was a steep climb up a very broken road. The decent was really tough, as the road would turn to gravel or sand suddenly in the middle of a curve, then it would be smooth blacktop again, and then large, bumpy stones and potholes: all while moving down at 40km/h. A few times I had to hit the brakes hard.

We stopped again at 10km from the finish to have some salty chips, drinks and chocolate, as Nicole was feeling really tired. Made it to the hotel no problem though, and we weren't even the last ones in.