Ona to Loja

Knowing that today was to be the Queen Stage for Ecuador and after taking a quick look at the route profile I decided that whilst I'd head out with the intention of trying to get all the way through from Ona to Loja that I would in all probability want to retire at around the 50 - 60 KM mark. Seriously they don't believe in gentle gradients around here.

When that's combined with a bit of altitude, things become hard work quite quickly!

Whilst the first five to ten kilometres weren't too bad, I did have to revert to playing a bit of music through my headphones at this point, something that I would never do at home, but I needed a bit of something to distract me from the climb. 

A ten or fifteen kilometre climb with an 8% gradient first thing after breakfast and before you have virtually had time to leave your front door, really ain't a great deal of fun! On and on I slogged with the pace gradually getting ever slower, until I reached the summit. It was at this point or shortly before hand that I noticed that a colleague - Carmen - who I had ridden with the day before, was some distance behind, but slowly but surely getting ever closer. 

As a result and particularly given that I had enjoyed her the company the day before I decided to wait. Heck, it is far more enjoyable riding with a buddy, as opposed to riding on your own and yet only a matter of a couple of hundred metres or a few minutes ahead of someone else! 

We subsequently enjoyed the descent, taking care not to allow the speed to get ahead of us. I know that one of my compatriots who I rode with on the La Bella Italia last year - Annabel - would have been particularly pleased with my approach......

Once we hit the bottom however, the road quickly turned upward for what both Carmen and I knew would be a fair ole while! What we did not anticipate however is how exposed it was to the wind and as a result how cold it could / would be. Heck, whilst normally I would be one for ditching winter clothing for long hard climbs up hill, the temperature was such that was not a particularly feasible idea, particularly given the speeds at which we were riding.

By the time we achieved the first five kilometres of the climb, I think we had both decided to call it quits at lunch time, sooner if we were in the fortuitous position or not, as to be deemed as to being "too late" and hence thrown into the lunch truck come sag wagon!

Ultimately this was to occur and I have to say it was an enormous relief. 

I mean we had fun, talking, telling each other our respective life story and simply taking the mickey out of the situation, but our legs (well mine at least) were about to fall off I was in that much pain! Being able to board the lunch truck was a brilliant reprieve! 

As a means of celebrating our camaraderie once we got to our hotel, we did a bit of supermarket shopping - trying to get a few food supplies that have a bit more protein than what we are currently eating / getting, but also in an attempt to see if we can avoid the gastro bug that is working its way though the peleton. I'm not sure what is causing it, but I reckon at least half of my colleagues have been ill at some point or another during the course of the last week. 

Once we had attended to that and a few other domestic chores (they do not stop even when you are away on holiday), we along with Jules & Lucho (the bike mechanic), went out to dinner at a decent restaurant where I was able to score a nice bit of salmon. Score!!!!