Stage 3. Andalsnes to Stranda
107km – 2,283m vert
Another perfectly sunny day. Not a cloud in the sky, and hard to believe. I had to put that in at the start, as it is very unusual we are been told.
After the first real stage yesterday, today started with a long neutral start, as we had a 6km tunnel to go through. The organizers had told us that we needed lights, and they were not kidding. 6km on the bike in a tunnel at 25km/hr is quite some time, and we were all happy to see daylight at the end, and the start of racing, and more tunnels.
One could say the theme of today was tunnels, as we did about 15km of the 110km underground. I was in the main peleton for most of the day, until the last ½ of the last climb, and they went for it in the tunnels. Pacelines with 15 riders in semi black, going downhill at 50-60km hr is not for the faint hearted and I was more than happy to get out of that one.
The stage was mostly flat, with a few short rollers early on to sort things out a bit before the first gradual climb at 60km, then more rollers and a kicker at the end. Once again my plan was to stay with the front and then let them go and play on the last climb and it went to plan.
Overall a good day on the bike as I came in about 13th overall and put 2 mins into the next rival in my age group, and am still sitting second, and I really went on the last hill so good training for later in the season.
The destination for today is Stranda. After the finish at the top of the last climb, we dropped down to a ferry, and had more great views of the floyd of Norway. They are huge, and I looked on a map, and the floyd we are on is not even so big. Mountains straight out of the sea, going up to 1000m, 360 degrees around us makes it pretty impressive. The day was topped off by a 15min ferry ride across to Stranda, where we were able to enjoy the views from the middle of the floyd.Amazing.
There is not much in Stranda, which is surprising as it looks to be one of the bigger towns in the area. We are staying in the Stranda hotel, and Leah and I are enjoying the hotel luxury rather than the basic facilities of the local school gym where a lot of others are staying. After a verty short explore of the town, we went to the only restaurant that was open for a late lunch, before a sitting in the shade and doing laundry and just generally hanging out. My legs are tired, I am tired, and tomorrow may be a tough day.