Stage 12

110.92 miles in 6:02:34 for an average speed of 18.36 mph. Great ride! I felt good throughout. I think that I have bounced back from the last three hard days. For three days I've been telling myself that if I could just pull through that I would get stronger and have some fun stages. Today was one!

I started at 5:06 this morning and it was a nice cool 57 degrees. 70 degrees at the finish. Drank 1.2 gallons and ate 1600 calories. Lost 1 lb. Average heart rate 111 bpm. The wind was pretty strong the whole way, but I stayed in town again.

I think that the reason that I had nothing left in my legs yesterday is that I have not been able to eat enough. Since the start of the tour I have already lost 5 lbs which is too much (I only lost 3 lbs for the whole tour last year). Yesterday I worked hard to keep eating all afternoon and evening and I think that it might have made the difference today. Eating 6,000 to 7,000 calories each day is hard work and you have to be sure that most of those calories are low in fat and not just sugar.

Wildlife: 5 rabbits.

Stage 13 tomorrow is a 33.56 mile time trial. I won't race it straight out, but will just put my heart rate somewhere around 150 and see how it goes.