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There
have been days when Jane has been totally awesome, the Half-Ironman
last year springs to mind but yesterday she took even her own exploits
to previously unobtained heights - literally.
The
bare facts are that at 8.45am local time she set off from La Spezia
and 6.15pm local time arrived in Santo Stefano D'Aveto a journey
time of nine and a half hours. The distance was 70 miles, which
was reasonable but when you realise that they climbed 9000 feet
to a highest altitude of 4500 feet and finished at a mountain resort
you'll begin to realise what she achieved.
The
last climb took one and a half hours at the end of the day. In true
Tour of France fashion the finish was at a mountain ski resort.
This is a woman who last week we didn't know would be well enough
to start the ride. Now in seven days they rode 380 miles.
Jane
is suffering from the loss of feeling of her fingers in her left
hand which is making tying shoe laces difficult but apart from that
is in good health.
Tomorrow
is another long stage to beyond Genoa but the real difficulty will
be emotional as it's Steven's birthday.
One
final thing is Jane didn't need to ride to Santo Stefano D'Aveto
as it is many miles from the direct route to the French border.
Why did she do it? Two reasons- firstly as training for Mont Ventoux
and secondly this ride is meant to be a physical challenge beyond
compare for someone in Jane's health and what better way to do that
than have a hard alpine stage at the end of the first week.
See
the full diary and bike route.
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