Freiburg to Donaueschingen

June 9th
70km (1,135m vertical)

Lovely sunny day today. Nicest weather we've had all trip. The route out of Freiburg was a bit complicated, so I elected to follow a large pack of riders for the first 15km or so. It took us an entire hour to cover the distance, so I was ready to pick up the pace a little when we got to the country.

There was 9km climb that rose by 800m or so, and I figured this would be a good place to break from the pack. The first 4km were not steep, so I sprinted out of the saddle – thinking that this was representative of the whole climb. l was cycling up ahead of me, and I wanted to catch him on the climb. I did, just as the climb got much steeper for the last 5km. By the end I was in my granny gear (the easiest one) and huffing and puffing like mad. I was the first to the top of the hill though, and the first to the lunch truck on the other side.

Al was annoyed that I hadn't stopped to point out the directions for him today. I told him that those days were over. He has the same cue sheet that I do, and needs to start navigating for himself. Besides, the turnoff was in the middle of a downhill and I was coasting along at 50km/h. I didn't want to slam on the brakes just to point out the turn to Al.

Lunch was a smoked salmon sandwich and a bunch of fruit. After eating, it was an easy 20km to the campsite. I arrived first (at 12:30) and secured a good tent location and a nice hot shower before the others started arriving. Not sure how I'll kill the 6 hours before dinner. Maybe I can start charging people to set up their tents.