Toulon, Ride #3

Today the plan was to do a short ride to preview the first climb in tomorrow's long ride.  Long and short are relative considering this is my fourth ride outside this season.

This is the view from John's balcony.  The RC Toulon Rugby stadium is in the center of the frame.  Note the stuffed tiger and Lay-oh-pard (that's for you, Andy Schleck) in the window on the right.  Not sure what's going on there.

We headed out with Matthias, a Swede who's working on a doctoral program in town.

Matthias on the left in the green kit, John on the right on the Hinacapie development kit.  John's asking Matthias what he prefers for his post-ride Aperitive.  

This was pretty much my day- riding behind two skinny guys trying not to get dropped.

Tourists.

Alright, I took a picture of it, too.

Somehow after feeling like I turned myself inside out for 5 hours I still have little to show for it on the power tap.

What's so interesting about that?  Nothing, other than almost 3,000 kilojoules of work, which for March is unheard of for me.  Normally this time of year I'm skiing, riding the rollers as much as I can stand and trying to avoid Carrie's chocolate chip cookie dough stashed in the fridge.  That's usually all on the same day.