'Nice' arrival to blistering heat...

We found that it's harder to get two cycle boxes sent by courier from Nice to Paris than it is to cycle 130 miles through the extreme heat of the South of France, we live and learn.

Empty roads, 6.30am Nice.

4th Stage completed early this morning, as the crew snatched an extra few minutes sleep and the duty of sorting bike boxes,  packing the support car and checking plans and supplies for the long day ahead the riding was no more than 20 miles along the time trial course of the Tour Stage, and traffic free! A gentle, flat (ok, very flat) ride along the beach heading East before looping back into the city, and back to the airport hotel for a quick bite to eat before hitting the road, and mountaains, for Stage 5.


Our attempt to beat the heat in the morning was thwarted by Southern France's incredibly hot climate. Making our way through Draguignan we felt the full force of the heat through the steady climb to Grasse and on through the mountains with constant views of the sea down below, a pretty good (but hot) but hot start. The crew probably had better opportunities to admire the views, for the rider this was now well and truly into the challenge.

Stage 5 rolled into and along the mountains just West of Nice with Category 3 and 4 climbs ahead on the way to Marseilles, not too bad to start such a challenge, only around 1900 miles to go!

Shadows in the morning sun....

A 'small world' moment, on the ascent to Grasse we passed a house that we had hired three years ago, it was a pleasant surprise and a moment of distraction to realise that we had crossed these roads before, in a small rental car, probably the same power output as the Scott bike! Onto Marseilles cutting out the last few kilometres, you have to experience the traffic to know why, it would be too early in the challenge to report a tangle between bike and local traffic. Stage 4 and 5, job done!


Now staying overnight in a particularly cheap & cheerful "hotel" in Aix en Provence ready for Stage Six tomorrow. Photos, blog posts and tweets to follow.

Ride 21 crew and rider, here for Action Medical Research

www.action.org.uk/tourdefrance

Twitter @chrisarmishaw

"There are no laws that govern will, sometimes the heart has its reasons that the head knows nothing of." Eddy Mercx