Bike Across France : Days 4-7

Day 4 : Chateuneuf de Randon -> Entraygues-sur-Truyere

168km (100mi) and 1,600m (5,000ft) of climbing. 

Despite waking up to a lovely chill in the tent, today was a long hot one. Especially after the previous 3 days on the bike. Parts of the body are getting sore... I haven't ridden a bike this much since, forever. And we are not halfway yet. Good news is that "it's all downhill from here". For the rest of the ride we are following rivers down to the ocean. 

We started off with a super fun downhill 50km in the first 2hr. At one point I was thinking "we'll do the full 160k in 6hr". Ha, try 9hr! It got up to 33C (95F) and it was a struggle to stay hydrated. 

Still the scenery was lovely. We had one cyclist join us for 10km and helped take turns drafting. That was great. Kaitlin and I started off doing long drafting pulls of 10-15min. But after a while would switch leads every 5min. 

Found a lovely hotel called Bistrorant 1610 that was affordable and highly rated. The couple running it were great and chatted with us quite a bit. Great food for dinner. 

Day 5 : Entraygues-sur-Truyere -> Cahors

138km (85mi) and 500m (1600ft) of climbing

Today we decided to modify the route and cut it short. We skipped done scenery to get to to town before the heat. No such luck, the heat found us and I suffered. Luckily Kaitlin felt good and could lead in the afternoon. 

The day was beautiful. We followed the Lot River the whole way. Pretty towns, tons of castles and agriculture. 

Day 6 : Cahors -> Agen

97km (60mi)  600m (1900ft) of climbing

After a failed easy day yesterday, we were determined to do one today. Found a lovely rental for 48€ in Agen and headed that way. 

Day 7 : Agen -> Peyrehorade 

198km (129mi) 1300M (4500ft) of climbing

I started the day with tired legs and it only got worse. But the route was relatively flat so we just had to keep peddling. It did get hot again today and we definitely did not put on enough sunscreen. My left side got a bit roasted. 

Finding a lunch rest in the shade. 

Found a campsite for the night at a Kiwi farm of all places. Kind of neat. 

For food these camping night we are stopping at a grocery store and getting an assortment of veggies, meats, cheeses and bread and having a little picnic. It's working quite well. 

Despite the tired legs, overall fatigue, discomfort sunburns, etc. I've got to say, I feel so much more alive when moving like this. I also feel like I'm finally experiencing France.