That was a warm ride! The towel on the bars was heavy with sweat, and there was literally a puddle under the bike. I've never sweated so much riding before, but I couldn't bail a second time. I lost over a kg in weight on that ride (don't worry Bob, I won't change my weight to my post ride weight as I've de-pruned myself since

)
I didn't go out too hard today, tried to keep it steady and HR below 170. First lap (once we'd dropped the bloody riders who shoot off fast and then die after 2 minutes forcing you to push through their sticky draft!!!!) I was in a large group and sat in there. Every now and then I'd end up with my nose out front, usually on the -ve gradients, so I had a feeling I was heavier than most in the group and would get dropped on the climbs.
First lap climbs I worked quite hard but tried not to go in the red. I was looking at riders around me for who I could join with over the top. Ended up just the 5 of us initially, but we were all happy taking turns to pull. On the flats, parallel to the sprint banner, I could see a large group chasing us down (a few guys at the front pushing big watts) so I called out to the other 4 to rest a minute and latch on to the chasers. They caught us about 30 secs later, but this gave me enough breather to get on the wheels. The group was now about 12 strong and moving well - I was trying to sit in and get a free ride

We swallowed up a few riders as we progressed, and about 2km short of the KoMs a large group caught us and increased our speed.
I gave the last 3 climbs everything, leaving nothing on the road. Ended up with a PB on lap 1 (24:01) and lap 2 (25:19).
@peterob stage 6 time of 50:11

Quite chuffed with that.