Today's was the third longest stage of The Tour and I covered just under 130 miles over what the tour book calls a "medium mountain" stage, medium mountains indeed!

This was a very hard and long day but I was pleased with how I seemed to have recovered from the previous day after a night swathed in my SKINS RY400 recovery gear, in spite of the bedroom being like an oven.

The scenery today, particularly for the first half of the ride, was beautiful and again this is an area well worth spending some more time in in a more leisurely way at some point in the future. As Arnie said "I'll be back"

As the ride wore on the terrain really became very rolling which sapped the energy and to add to the entertainment I was faced with a very significant headwind which meant I was having to work pretty hard even on some of the downhill sections which was not what I wanted at all!

Finally arrived in Mende but that was not the whole story. To complete the stage properly I them had to ride the 3km of the Montee Laurent Jalabert at an average gradient of 10% but much steeper in many places. With almost 130 miles already done over difficult terrain this was a matter of willpower as I had to ride past my hotel to the foot of the climb, talk about temptation.

Anyhow, I struggled up and the top finally came and I then had to ride back down the descent to the hotel for a late, but very nice, dinner. Tired again tonight but I'm pleased with how I coped with this stage after yesterday's difficulties.

Oh yes, in 3 days time a certain Lance Armstrong will be staying in this hotel, I hope the proprietor tells him I got here first! ;-)

Photographs from Today:

Rural sundial inscribed "Carpe Diem" – how very appropriate.
Col des Nonieres scenery.
The tour is coming, long live The Tour!
Arrival at Mende Aerodrome after climbing the Montee Laurent Jalabert. After almost 130 miles 3km at an average of 10% almost finished me, but not quite.

Today's Weather:

Not quite as hot, more bearable, but still 28-30 degrees. Clear skies all day, I'm praying for clouds!

Ride Time: 11:05 hh:mm
Work Done: 4771 kJ
Training Stress Score: 320
Intensity Factor: 0.562
Normalised Power: 171W
Variability Index: 1.31
Ride Distance: 129 miles
Elevation Gain: about 11,000 feet
Maximum Power: 486W
Average Power: 130W
Average Heart Rate: 116bpm
Average Speed - True: 11.6mph
Acute Training Load: 227.3
Chronic Training Load: 134.5
Training Stress Balance: -85.7