Really nice narrative ! Congratulations with finishing your rides with that darn fussy stomach. Not a nice way to start and continue to have to fight against low energy levels, and then not sleeping well. You can put in the miles, put in the hills but ya never know how you're gonna feel the day you wake up. Not sure how you can assess the stomach thing - maybe the heat. I went out that day attempting a solo metric century but only did 44 miles because my stomach acted up over the heat. Like you, I feel I did everything right and I typically do well in heat so it took me by surprise.

Despite you riding 160 something miles on like, 2000 calories , your account of the experience read very positive.