Today's ride was a two part ride. From Diana to Saint Malo on the coast. Then take a short ferry across the inlet to Deianard for the second part of the ride that includes the lunch than onwards to Frehel.
Europe is in the middle of a heat wave, maybe you have heard of it, with temperatures reaching 100+ degrees Fahrenheit. Even warm for this guy from Southern California. As I left the hotel this morning I followed a hard packed gravel bike trail along the canal that the hotel was located on. At 8 AM the air was cool, about 62 degrees F. After a couple of miles the road turn to the left and up the bank to higher ground. once I was on the bank the view of the river that flows North to the Atlantic was worth the climb. Today was filled with many other climbs as road had a series of drops and climbs during the day. Looking at the ride profile in the maps below you will be able to clearly see how the attitude accumulates throughout the day.
Along the way, I joined up with additional riders as reached Saint Malo in about 2 hours at which time you could start to feel the day's heat starting to come on. Found our way to the ferry for the 15-20 minute ride across the inlet to the town of Dinard where we pushed onward to lunch and as we rode on, we gathered additional riders.
By the time we left lunch the distance to the ride end was only 25 miles or so, but the temperatures were already in the high 90's and heading higher. We traveled through many small town onroute and a convenience store with cold drinks would have been a welcome sight, but alas not a single store crossed our path at all. About 6 miles from the end of the ride, we stop at an unusual light house. Unlike the shape that I associate with lighthouses (tapering cylinders reaching to the sky), this light house (as you can see in our today's photo album, the light house is more of a tapering rectangle.
We finally reached our hotel with the temperatures in the low 100's. When the rooms were ready, it was time for showers, and a quick nap. I'm finishing this blog in the hotel lobby where many of the other riders are gathered. Turns out the hot weather in this small beach town is so unusual that the hotel doesn't have air conditioning. So with a cold beer nearby I'm happily typing away.
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