We're in San Severo tonight,  a town that can be considered proper south Italy. Things are very different here,  people are on average older and fatter and speak with a harder to understand accent. They also use another greeting instead of the 'ciao' to which we've been accustomed. No doubt we must look strange to them - we've received many curious stares as we walked around town,  and it doesn't help that the entrance to accommodation is right in front of some city wide snooker tournament. This evening,  before and (particularly) after,  we noticed many families just sitting in the street outside the entrance to their homes, just talking. Given the high temperature of 38°, it's not unimaginable that it was probably too warm indoors.  It is striking however that this pastime was pervasive over the entire city.

Today's ride was a 95.50 mile long and hot ride over several rolling hills Very,  taking 5.57.41 hours (an average of 16.0mph).  It was mainly down the SS16 again and aside from a particularly terrifying incident (where a barking dog managed to leap free of his enclosure and actually chased us down the road) was pretty uneventful. The scenery in the hills south of Pescara was as pretty as Wikitravel suggested and the road became much quieter,  at least until we hit Vasto. After Vasto,  it picked up considerably - perhaps explaining the prevalence of scantily clad prostitutes lining that part of the highway.

I thought I'd share some of my strategies for getting through days like today. Often long days on the bike can be fun,  when through scenic landscapes or over technically interesting terrain. However,  others can be mentally harder,  particularly when you're not feeling up to it or there is little to keep you interested in the ride. Today was one of those days.  It was essentially nearly a hundred miles down a busy highway in the scorching heat.  This is the third riding day in a row so our legs are starting to feel it too.

1) When the going gets tough,  don't stop going.
Stopping while you are heading up a hill or into a headwind is a terrible idea.  Don't do it. It's not actually that much harder to get started but the psychological toll of trying to push forwards from a standing start is enough to actually make the ride seem much harder than it actually is.

2) Take lunch at 50% effort,  not 50% distance.
Each mile is harder than the last. As you reach the end of the day it takes more effort to keep going. Taking lunch at the halfway point by distance means that you'll actually have a longer second half of the day,  particularly when you're starting to feel sleepy as your body digests your food and the temperature heats up. If you go halfway by effort (anywhere between 50% of the distance to 80%, depending on the terrain),  then the second half will be much less arduous.

3) Stop as little as possible.
This is similar to 1). The more breaks you take,  the more mentally significant each period of riding becomes.  If you're feeling rough then this can add to your general perception of riding 'slowly' and cause you to actually ride slower than you could. Plus,  stopping allows lactic acid to make its way into your legs... (or so I've been told) and getting going again is harder each time.

4) Give yourself continual and realistic goals.
Everyone needs something to aim for and trying to do the whole day in one go is admirable but difficult. I normally like knocking down the distance in 5 or 10 kilometre or mile increments,  depending on how fast I'm going.  If you're feeling mathematical,  you can knock down percentages at a time too. This gives me something to aim for and a small dopamine boost everything we knock down a milestone.

5) Continually assess your progress.
This goes hand in hand with 4). Perhaps it's a little obsessive but my analytical mind loves to keep track of where we are,  what's coming next and how much effort will be required for the rest of the day. It means you'll hopefully have no surprises later on and you'll know how to pace yourself.
6) Think positive,  or rather - don't think negative.
Everyone has bad days.  It's important to reasonably ignore these feelings (with an ear to any 'warnings' from your body, of course).  Bad vibes can be infectious and affect your psyche for the day and possibly even the next.  I normally try never to consider anything as bad. It's part of the survivor mentality - if you treat any hardship as part of the adventure,  it makes it easier to react rationally to it and it will therefore pass more easily.  I also often ignore or live with niggling issues in the spirit of getting on with the journey (e.g. Insect bites,  weary legs,  the odd bicycle creak). Obviously deal with these when you can but trying not to let them wear you down mentally helps keep you going.

7) Distract yourself.
I always thought that a long cycle ride like the TDA would have been the ideal place to come up with a killer business idea but sadly I was so concerned with the ride itself that it wasn't really possible. Concentrating on not getting flattened by east African lorries is a full time job in itself! It can be useful however to have music to help time pass quicker and today I made full use of the music stored on my phone to distract me from the constant sweaty grind toward the south.