Close to Celles-sur-Plaine.

The cook is so important there are T-shirts available now.

The day starts dry, but also cold and cloudy

Derk is up early to replace the cable of his intermediate Snek. The cable wasn’t running smooth yesterday and some oil didn’t give any improvement. Replacing the cable was about the biggest maintenance until now. Apart from this the propulsion cable is replaced every now and then. Long before the cable is actually worn out Derk replaces them. The bikes are mostly maintenance free.

Derk leaves at 8.30 AM, which is nice on time. He isn’t fully recovered from yesterday, but regarding yesterday’s efforts that’s no wonder. His trip starts dry, but it doesn’t take long before he gets his first cold shower.

At the stop in Bur-le-Duc it’s still raining. Here is the end of the time-trial of the real Tour. The Tour continues in Commercy a day later, but Derk is not planning to stop this early! We take him to Commercy and before we know it, he’s already on his way to Veselise.

When he arrives in Veselise he’s quite content: he feels good and has been able to get his heart rate around 105 beats per minute. In this way he’s able to go on for a long time.

On our way to Baccarat the weather seems to improve a little. The clouds open, the sun shines now and then en the temperature increases rapidly. The landscape is now more open and the roads are more narrow than ever. The woodlands are replaced by beautiful open landscapes. We are now following the same trajectory as Derk, so the route of the Tour de France, so lots of nice new road surfaces!

After Barrarat the ride continuous through absolutely gorgeous forests, mist through the trees and fresh green leaves. It is hard to stop Derk from going any further, but we succeed in persuading him to stop while he feels still energetic. In the small town of Celles-sur-Plain, surrounded by hills covered with forests we halt.