The Fireflies Tour - Day Eight: Manosque to Frejous
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
"Hot, Hot, Hot!"
Still on a high from yesterday's conquering of Mont Ventoux, the
Fireflies were all raring to go for the final full day of
riding.
Setting off under the glorious sunshine, they cruised through
the beautiful lavender fields of Provence set against a backdrop of
the pastel-coloured Alps. The roads and gentle winds made for an
awesome morning of riding and everyone was using the opportunity to
take plenty of photos* of the stunning scenery (*lots of pics
coming soon!)
With the temperature gauge hitting 37˚C, conditions were ideal
for Chris to work on his tan and in his own words, he is now
"disgustingly brown", albeit a little stripy. Sadly, the same can't
be said for Alex, who is "still like an oven-ready chicken".
After lunch, they left the lavender fields behind them and
turned onto the main road to burn some serious miles. Forming a
double-pellaton so that cars could over-take more easily, they
steamed on until one particular car pulled up behind them, beeping
them loudly. Despite waving it by, the car continued to hoot them
before speeding by and then breaking sharply and stopping at the
head of pellaton causing a mini-Firefly pile-up! Fortunately,
everyone was fine but there were a lot of raised voices and
arm-waving as the driver emerged from the car - that was until the
guys realised it was a police officer in an unmarked vehicle!
After some diplomatic intervention, international peace was
quickly restored and the Fireflies were waved on to complete the
last few miles before rolling in to Fréjus, their destination for
the final night. Everyone was excited to check-in to the plushest
hotel of the tour and fully enjoyed the facilities before going for
a slap up meal and a couple of glasses of the local vino.
With only 75km to do on Wednesday before they cross the finish
line, the guys are already looking forward to a well-deserved
lie-in and (more than) a few celebratory beers!
PS: If you are in Cannes and would like to welcome the Fireflies
in, they will be crossing the line and riding into the Croisette at
4pm this afternoon… they'd love to see you there!
STATS FROM THE DAY:
Distance: 144km
Ascent: 1050m
Temperature: 37˚C
If you would like to show your support for the guys with a
donation, their fundraising pages are as follows:
Alex: http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/team/fireflies2
Chris: http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/ChrisBatten
Check out the Mill on: