Where's a Peloton when you need one?

The view leaving magnificent Marseille.
see all photos »

The Tour de France cyclists have it pretty tough but one major advantage over us mortals following them is that they ride the majority of the time in the Peloton. This is the French word for the main group of cyclists. It provides the cyclists with protection from the headwind as everyone bar the front guy is riding behind someone. Cycling behind another cyclist saves about 30% of your energy. Today was a very windy day in roughly the direction we were going and as a result, we were begging for some protection from the wind but alas there was none. It was blowing about 20-25 knots today which is tough on a bike particularly gusting crosswinds. As a result, we shortened todays stage a bit because of the wind but also to avoid cycling through the traffic chaos of Marseille and Montpellier. Todays route took us through some very old French cities like Arles which was a Roman settlement dating back to the time of Julius Caesar circa 50 BC. We also rode under a very old Aqueduct (photo attached) which was quite specatcular. This partially made up for the slightly less spectacular scenery compared with the Alps and the north of France. It is mainly rocky outcrops and scrub around this part of France so anything out of sight of the sea is fairly low value land. We have collected a new driver in Chris who did a good job in his first day in the drivers seat (although no sandwiches and beers for the boys at the end of the stage!).

The historic Aqueduc de Rocquefor
see all photos »

All in all, we rode 105km in 4 hrs 4 min averaging 25.6kph which we were pretty happy with considering the wind. One more days riding on the flatlands before heading for the Pyrenees. Looks like the wind will be in our faces for a while yet. A weather map shows headwinds in just about any direction from Montpellier !

Today was a very windy day in roughly the direction we were going and as a result, we were begging for some protection from the wind but alas there was none.