Didja check that link? Did you play it in the player? We just went back and forth about five times.
I'll tell you what the deal is: today's sustained winds were in the 25-30 mph range, with gusts up to 50. The ride leader fella sent out an email blast that he'd decided not to come out today, but, since I won't get the opportunity for a group ride tomorrow, I was bound and determined that I was going out on a group ride. I loaded a couple of Winter Larry's routes into the GPS, and went to the start location.
Cricket, cricket.
The only other person there was Al L., who lives at the other end of Middlesex County and who has to leave before the email would have gone out. The guy who leads the faster ride showed up for a minute or two, in jeans and a sweater, to tell any of his riders to go on without him, but, of course, none were there.
Al and I decided to try to try to ride into the wind about ten miles to a stop point (that's that half-mile on Plainsboro Road sticking out at about 10:00 on the ride route). When we got to that point, the wind just beat us. We could barely breathe. We turned back, and decided to do a few reps of Main St. in Cranbury, just to get some miles. We were riding across the wind, and sheltered for most of the way... but up at the top of the route, there was a section of about 1/4 mile where there was no windbreak. It was great on the way up; the wind was at our backs. But on the way back down, it was a fight, and it got tougher every time. We gave it up after, I think, five repetitions.
That said, it was a good day. Al isn't a guy I would have ever gotten to know outside the club. He's part of the reason I have a titanium frame on my bike today. We talked about bikes (of course), history, religion... we avoided politics since he's almost as far right as I am left. We spoke about our experiences with doctors and taking care of our health (he's got even more mileage on his body than I, so I was able to learn from his experience).
It was a good ride, but I'm undoubtedly an idiot. Everybody with any sense, stayed home.
I am glad that you survived the wind Jim. I was planning to put in some time on my trainer in the guest room, but was afraid that it was too windy for that! Ha! That is quite the detailed Garmin page; I quite enjoyed watching the arrow go back and forth. Sean
ReplyDeleteSean! Good to hear from you. You need to come out again so we can show you some more roads.
ReplyDeleteBut not in wind like that. Only I'm idiotic enough to do that.