One of the most miserable days of cycling in my life was from Perpignan in France (right near Spain) to Narbonne and from there to Montpellier during a solo bike tour I did after graduating from college in 1988. Basically I was riding the opposite direction of the Vuelta tomorrow. I woke up on the camp ground in Perpignan which is 90K or so south west of Sunday's stage finish in Narbonne, and my tent had almost collapsed from the strong wind of the Mistral. I got on my bike and was barely holding 12 kph into the crazy wind.
Biking by the beach, the windsurfers were going insane ripping on the sea, and the crazy thing is the beach is permanently lined up with ambulances and rescue boats because these windsurfers are going way too fast for their own good. Something told me that this was not the ideal place for cycling with the Mistral wind whipping down from the Pyranees towards the sea. I barely moved on the bike for something like 6-7 hours over the first 90K to get to Narbonne and at that point, made a gradual right bend towards Montpellier/Nimes and suddenly I was riding at 65 kph for the final 1.5 hour 90K or of riding with a cross tail. It was absolutely insane. Never ridden in wind like that, never want to again.
Tomorrow's Vuelta ride to Narbonne looks like a cross headwind coming from the right of the riders, but the gusts are only up to 35 kph. Still enough to cause a split as the area can be really exposed especially the area along the sea:
You can see on the map that exposed section along Marseillan Plage. it's basically a road with water on each side. In any case if a breakaway does not get away this is a sprinter stage before they hit the mountains on day 3 going to Andorra on Monday.
Biking by the beach, the windsurfers were going insane ripping on the sea, and the crazy thing is the beach is permanently lined up with ambulances and rescue boats because these windsurfers are going way too fast for their own good. Something told me that this was not the ideal place for cycling with the Mistral wind whipping down from the Pyranees towards the sea. I barely moved on the bike for something like 6-7 hours over the first 90K to get to Narbonne and at that point, made a gradual right bend towards Montpellier/Nimes and suddenly I was riding at 65 kph for the final 1.5 hour 90K or of riding with a cross tail. It was absolutely insane. Never ridden in wind like that, never want to again.
Tomorrow's Vuelta ride to Narbonne looks like a cross headwind coming from the right of the riders, but the gusts are only up to 35 kph. Still enough to cause a split as the area can be really exposed especially the area along the sea:
You can see on the map that exposed section along Marseillan Plage. it's basically a road with water on each side. In any case if a breakaway does not get away this is a sprinter stage before they hit the mountains on day 3 going to Andorra on Monday.
