Stage 4 - Holy Hell This Hurts!

Riding along the coast of France most of the day!

OK, I take back any comment I've ever made about bike racers being prima donnas because they don't like walking up stairs and they sleep late and drink lots of espresso... I get it now.

Wow, this is hard.  I mean really hard.  It's not the "wow my legs kind of hurt today" kind of hard, it's more like, "wow, my legs hurt to even look at" kind.  It's mostly the build up of so many miles, so many hours, and so many peddle strokes that just wears on you.  We get back to the hotel and can only think of 3 things: food, shower, sleep, preferably all as fast as possible to maximize the last.  Then it's an early morning to get rolling out the door in time and do it all over again.

But, I do have to say, it's pretty freaking amazing! As hard as it and as tired as we are, we are all so stoked to be out here riding for a great cause, Bikes Belong, and for helping get more women on bikes.  Every stage we finish is a huge accomplishment and it's been awesome having the support of so many strangers from around the world!  So, thank you!

Today's stage was pretty flat with only 4 category4 climbs so no big deal.  The climbs were really beautiful and all of the little fishing villages we rode through were amazingly cute.  I think I'm going to get a place here on the coast sometime and just live off of French bakeries and seafood.  Now, to just convince Nick about that one... hmmm.

No drama today, thank god! Just some steady peddling and eating as much as possible.  I hate eating.  Usually I love it.  But when you have to just shove food in your mouth all day long it gets really old.  Kate, my wonderful amazing roommate did the most most wonderfully amazing thing tonight though!  She went across the street from our French hotel and got 3 wonderfully amazing pizzas.  Heidi added to awesomeness with some beers.  Nothing beats pizza in beer, no matter where you are in the world, NOTHING!

Our brains are losing. Mismatched gloves. Only the start. 

OK, enough for today. In good spirits, legs hurt like hell, mind is a little numb, and I'm pretty sure I'm getting stupider and stupider by the minute.  Go Réve Team!