Woof! My legs!!! What a rude awakening to start climbing right away. It took a few miles for my legs to get going and they started feeling better and better until all of a sudden they didn't. My legs must have been pretty tired because the grades felt harder than they should have. It didn't help that it got really cold, down to 2.4C, and it was below 3C from about half way to the top... where there was snow. The descent was wet but I got a new back tire put on so no more skidding issues. The road is fairly narrow, as all the roads have been so far so I couldn't really go for it. I got held up by a bus and a car held up a line of cars. I even stopped to take photos and caught back up to them. Eventually he let us by and after that I didn't want to stop. At one point, I came across Chris stopped to take a great picture of a church with the mountains behind it. I should've stopped too. After that, Chris, Richard and I had an amazing descent. So much fun to have some guys to descend with. In the valley, it warmed considerably, with the sun out, riding through apple orchards. We were supposed to take it easy but Tom and Seamus put the hammer down. My legs are feeling it!