Oh to be 10 years younger!

The morning dawned fair but with a stiff breeze. After a light breakfast we headed out to meet up with the guides, Alex & José. The road took us alongside a river. I'd riden it last year when it was busy with traffic and not much fun. Because of some roadworks in one section most of the local traffic was avoiding the route and we made good time hustling the bikes from bend to bend.

The 'advanced' group had shrunk to 5 today. The motley crew of Phil, Simon, Jim, some bloke who's name I should know by now and myself headed off with our glorious leader Alex.
The trails were still dry and dusty as we climbed up though the many eucalyptus(?) groves. We soon found that as a group we were a riding a similar pace and so didn't have to do much sitting around for others.

As the morning got hotter and dustier fatigue began to set in. This wasn't helped by still feeling a bit under the weather. Water was being consumed at a copious rate and sweated soon after.

Simon and Jim were reveling in spinning up their rear wheels and leaving the trail covered in dust. Both are used to riding on the beaches in Guernsey and are used to the feeling of the bike moving under them. I'm not so keen. We did take turns at the front so they did get to 'eat my dust' from time to time.

Midway through the morning we visited a river than ran through a steep walled gorge. It was an idilic location with dragonflies buzzing around and many bright blue butterflies. I sploshed out into the stream to get a good picture and almost went a over t on some mossy rocks. That would have amused the guys.

We briefly met up with the other group before putting in some more hard riding before lunch. By the time we got to the café for lunch we were all looking a bit worse for wear.

With sandwiches and soup inside (and a beer in my case), we headed back out. Alex took us to a steep climb that I'd only just managed last year. Whilst not the longest climb on the holiday it was consistantly steep for a long time. I set off at the rear of the pack and managed to knock the bike back into first going over a big bump. This almost unseated me but I managed to hang on.

Having sorted myself out I was soon at the top of the slope nursing aching arms. Alex decided that what goes up must come down and started back down. We felt more dubious. Holding the throttle open and hanging on for your life is one thing, but contolling the speed going down with all the weight on your arms and the tyres scrabbling for grip is another.

After a long descent on a narrow track with long grass, brambles and washed out sections we were all feeling tired. Luckily, after completing a tricky, steep descent over loose shale to a road bridge, Alex got called away to assist the other group. As we heard him tear off through the trees we were all glad to get a rest. Unfortunately he was back within 10 minutes racing down the shale slope as if it was tarmac. We joked that we could hear his phone ringing and perhaps he should go back again!

He realised we were getting tired and so started the route home. This still seemed to involve a lot of trails though!

Meeting Julian and the rest of the group we rode some fantastic tarmac roads before arriving in Coimbra early evening. Marshall had been to seen a doctor and had an x-ray. His collar bone is broken in two places so he'll be doing no more riding.

Dinner was at a nice Italian resturant on the riverside before taking a taxi ride with an Alonso wannabe at the wheel back to the hotel. Retired feeling very worn with muscles aching that I didn't know I had.