and we finish into the wind

 

Eric, Dave, and Ricky outside Carrier Clinic at East Mountain Ave & 601, cheering because I've finally caught up with 'em.

As we made the last turn onto Claremont, Laura OLPH said, "And we finish into the wind."

It was just that much of a meteorological insult, because for about two-thirds of this ride, we were fighting either a vicious headwind or a substantial lateral wind.

When I scheduled the ride and picked the route, I looked at temperature and likelihood of precipitation. I didn't think to look at the wind predictions, and didn't until, on a Zoom call with Laura's Hill Slugs, somebody brought it up. I might better have done the route I chose last week... but I don't like to repeat routes that close together.

(Two riders who had signed up initially, later cancelled. I wonder if they had more sense than we...)

At the start:

The route was over most of my usual roads, with a stop at Thomas Sweet. But several of the regular porta-potties are gone: on Amsterdam at the Country Classic field and the Amsterdam School, and at the HIllsborough Municipal Building.

The real challenge on today's ride, though, was the wind. We really didn't get a break until we turned onto Orchard Road, where we finally got a tailwind for a while. We stopped at the Thomas Sweet, and at the Montgomery Arboretum (the porta-potty is still there), and coasted most of the way back to the Claremont School...

...until we turned onto Claremont for the last quarter-mile or so.

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In other news: I'd been complaining about a repeating squeak, that I thought I'd fixed. It's much better... but it's not all gone. Laura thinks it's temperature-dependent; that the cold opens up something, due to differing coefficients of expansion, that's just not an issue with more moderate temperatures. She's probably right.

But I'm going to have a look at lubing the pedals anyway.