Stage 2 Report

Stage Report and Stage Data

Duration: 6:55:37
Distance: 106.66 miles
Work: 3982 kJ
TSS: 338
NP: 224W
VI: 1.34
Maximum Power: 668W
Average Power: 167W
Maximum Speed: 33.4 mph
Average Speed: 16.1 mph
Maximum HR: 168
Average HR: 130
TSB Today: -14.1
ATL Today: 127.2
CTL Today: 92.7

Stage 2 proved to be another challenging day, very high gusting winds and a mixture of rain and hail coupled with very cold temperatures, wasn't expecting to be seeing my breath as I cycled at this time of year. 2 nasty pothole crashes today. One bloke fine but apparently his bike frame broken in several places, the other not so fortunate had to go to the hospital and have not heard how he is, hopefully he will be fine.

Power figures well below what I feel capable of and a low average HR but that's the nature of this sort of ride and I don't intend risking frying myself yet as we have only covered one third of the distance of the tour so far, plenty of work still to be done and I don't want to risk running out of gas.

Have found today that the groups have not been well controlled and not working well together, there is a lot of very inefficient speeding up and slowing down of the bunch which just wastes people's energy and this has again resulted in some riders being dropped and finding themselves struggling in the awful weather which is a shame.

So far my nutrition and recovery plan, which I'm sticking to, seems to be working pretty well and today after yesterday's stage I felt good to go this morning so I'm quite encouraged by that. It's hard to imagine but I think I'm going to manage to gain weight on this trip in spite of all the exercise and the cold, just me I guess!

So, tomorrow will be a corker, the weather forecast is again poor and we have a stage of about 150 miles to deal with. I'm just hoping my hydration/nutrition plan will stand me in good stead and hope I'll get a good night's sleep, I'll be off to bed as soon as I've written this and hope to get at least 7 hours of sleep which would be great.

More tomorrow, as long as I finish safely and before midnight!