Big thunderstorms followed by rain this morning at 5h30, I get outside in order to get my clothes drying outside. The rain stops at around 7h30, so get a bit more of sleep than expected. And time to get ready, I eat the rest of the pizza from yesterday, a banana and a lot of water, we prepare the bikes, pay the camping and go.
Did 80km+ this morning, at a much faster pace than I normally go, around 23kmh (i usually ride at around 18-19). Having good rythme like this in the morning is break, we bike hard for 1 hour, pause 5 min, 45 min bike, 5 minute break and then big stretch to lunch.
We took some very smooth roads, crazy detours, parks, small paths, gravel roads. Following Jan and not have to think about the route is an incredible feeling. More space in the head to think about other things, also just following and keeping up with the pace.
Pause at 14h00, no real lunch, we are in the middle of nowhere, all stores are closed, the town looks dead, the bar is closed, we eat in this park, filled with litter, it looks like a movie set. We take our time, snack, call friends and family, organize sleeping, and nap a little bit.
We have 3h30 left, and 70km. The afternoon is much harder, but it some ways easier as we are getting closer to the goal. After lunch, and a small warm up on the bikes. We increase the pace for 40 min at 30kmh, to then go back to a more reasonable pace, for me at least, going only at 23 or 25kmh.
Special shout-out to Tobi: I spent a significant amount time of the morning and afternoon drafting behind Tobi.
“There are three forces we need to overcome when riding a bike: the effect of gravity, rolling resistance, and wind resistance. When we’re riding at 30km/h on a flat road, wind resistance accounts for approximately 80% of the total resistive force. When we increase our speed to 50km/h, wind resistance increases to a massive 94%” Source
So by being behind Tobi, I had to use less energy in order to keep up with their pace, as he was breaking the air for me. This was especially helpful when we were going fast, and because I had more bags.
What I ate today:
1/2 pizza margarita for breakfast + a banana
Chocolate bars,fruits bars, nuts bars, bars, bars, anything with sugar
For lunch, I do muesli miwed with water and a random magnesium powder.
In the afternoon, bars, kit kats, ice-cream and an orange juice
Tonight: pizza, olives, salad, gelato…
We found a small airbnb room in the center of bologna, slept there with tobi, tomorrow, I will be a tourist in bologna.
It was a pleasure for us riding with you. Much respect that you kept up with us! Ride on and stay safe 🙂