Varna to Aheloy

July 14th
107km (1,770m vertical)

Fun day with two big climbs. There was a group ride out of Varna, so I helped to stop traffic again. (We've been dubbed the enforcers of the group.) At around 10km, the group ride ended and the first big hill started. Al and Luc moved to the front of the group and I joined them for a few minutes before riding ahead alone. After a few slower days I decided to push myself today. Randy described today as one of the toughest climbing days, so it seemed like a good day to ride alone.

The first climb went on for several km before we joined highway 9 and stayed on it all day. The road had a few good downs and ups before lunch at 60km. After going full out to lunch, I was the 3rd rider to arrive. Garris and Jos had skipped the group ride and left the hotel early.

After lunch was the big up and over of the day. It lasted almost 20km, including a couple of sharp downhill sections in the middle of the climb. I left the lunch truck with Al, but pulled ahead of him on the climb. I past Garis, Jos and Bill too, although Bill was only a few hundred meters behind me for most of the climb. He can really move on his little folding Bike Friday, and he obviously likes to climb.

At one point, a large black boar crashed out of the woods across the road from me. I thought it was a small bear. Certainly got my heart racing, since the hill would have stopped me from getting away very quickly.

After the summit was a great downhill. Definitely the best of the trip so far. There were only a handful of hairpin turns and otherwise the road weaved back and forth in wide arcs, the let me carry a lot of speed the entire way down. I maxed out at 68.7km/h, and was in the 60s for the whole decent.

I was first into the hotel at 12:40pm, finishing with an average speed of 25.9km/h, which I was very pleased with given the slow group ride to start and the two big climbs en route. Arriving early gave me time to wash some clothes in the sink and watch the Tour de France on the television. After dinner, there was live music in the restaurant and all the wives had their husbands up and dancing.

Didn't take many photos today. Here's one of a small city I was just about to descend down to: