Stage 2

Stage 2 is done. 104.7 miles in 5:49:21 for a 17.98 mph average. Ate 8 gel packs. Drank 2.1 gallons. Lost 3 lbs.

No problems today. I kept a steady even average pace close to 18 throughout. Andrew rode about 25 miles of it and helped keep a nice pace. At the end of our 25 mile loop we always race up what we call the little hill. It is not long, but very steep. I knew that I would not have a chance of beating Andrew today (he is definitely the king of the hill since I have only managed to beat him twice this year, Bill beat him once, and he has beaten us all of the other times) so I took off on the previous downhill and attempted to get a lead going into the hill. Unfortunately I was only a bike length or two ahead and Andrew blew by on the uphill.

The hardest part of today's ride was the heat and the wind. At the start it was 70 and 86 at the finish. Yesterday and today the wind picked up quite a bit for the second half of the ride. Today I could only manage 14- 16 mph in the headwind and then 22-23 the other way. In the headwind my pulse would be in the 140's whereas my average pulse for the first 70 miles was a very comfortable 116 and then up to 127 for the last 35 miles.

Wildlife: Only one red fox. He was walking along the road by the edge of the cornfield in the same direction I was going. He did not see or hear me, until I pulled up beside him. He then very quickly disappeared into the cornfield.

Stage 3 tomorrow is the longest stage of the tour at 146.95 miles. That's more than 2 hours longer than today's stage. I'm a little worried about handling the heat for that long, but I may get lucky since thunderstorms are predicted. I would much rather ride through rain than have to endure the heat (today I did not need water at the Mattingly's home, but on my last lap I was so hot that I stopped and stuck my head under the pump faucet. It was very nice and cool!).