Done

We left our hotel in Cenera this am and are now in Oviedo.  The Angliru was hard.  We climbed El Cordal for about 6k before hitting the start of Angliru in La Vega, a small town in the mountains.  The climb stiffened after about 6.5k and a van stayed at a relatively flat spot.  I rode up with a young woman from Spain who spoke broken English, but I gathered her boyfriend was already at the top.  At a 21% grade, she hit a rough spot and unclipped so I went on.  My hip hematoma was getting worse with every pedal stroke and one of the C riders passed me; the A´s and a few B´s were already well on their way.  Finding myself alone was sometimes peaceful and othertimes a little scary, cliffs off to one side, amazing views of Oviedo in the distance.  Suffice it to say I did not make it to the top.  2.5 km to go, my excuse is a combo of hip pain, pitting edema of the left arm from the accident and just plain fatigue.  OK, so I just couldn´t do it.  I also was alone and debated trying for the top and riding down with Peter in the van (he was still sick and had driven a van to the top) as the clouds were coming in and the roads were already slippery with cow poop.  Long story short the descent was amazing, yet frightening.  The most amusing story is of the C group guy that made it - as the van was following the Á and B guys down, they passed the C guy going up who only had one km to go!  Truly well done.  The van had to find a spot to turn around and go back up!

The next VIP Thompson trip is in Austria.  Last year I said never again;  this year?  Debatable and only if VA and Mark goes with us. 

Next stop for me is the pool.  I want to see if anyone notices my bruise.  Pics to follow.