**Caution this post may not be suitable for all readers**
So, from what I can tell everybody was pretty excited to ride this morning, although it was a chilly 39 degrees as we left the hotel. As I got out of the elevator in the lobby I saw Bonnie trying to put Preston's makeshift arm warmers (made out of tube socks) onto her legs. I offered her my yoga pants, but she went to get hers, "just in case". She wore them the whole ride.
There was much sharing of cold weather gear amongst the group, which was good because it was cold. AND REALLY FUCKING WINDY*. Starting out, I immediately had my bike in the largest gear possible, although I was freezing, so I didn't appreciate that this would be the only tailwind we'd get all day. From mile 3 on it was all headwind/crosswinds.
*I hesitate to use vulgarity in a semi-public blog, but there really is no other approriate adjective in the english language to describe these conditions. I guess the weather channel opted to use "Wind Advisory" to describe it, but that's an understatement.
Anyway, I'd personally debated doing the 43 mile route, wanted to see how my hip felt, if I liked the rental bike, etc. By the time we got to the first rest stop at mile 9, there was clearly no way I was doing that. JUST GET ME BACK TO THE CAR. My entire motivation from that point forward was to get back to the van.
It's hard to explain how windy it was. I could tell you that at one point I was riding downhill, using the smallest chain ring, and struggling to pedal. It was just exhausting, non-stop wind. The headwind was bad, but the crosswind wasn't better. Sure, you could actually move forward, but you had to really lean into the wind just to stay on the bike.
How else to explain the wind. Preston said at one point he just wanted to man-cry. I wanted to throw my bike down on the side of the road and just WALK towards the end b/c it definitely would've been faster. T was proud to look down at her GPS and see that she was going 7 mph ("at least I hadn't dropped to 3"). Sandy who rides like, a million miles a week, said after we got out of the van, "That was hard." That's it, if Sandy thinks it was hard, it was HARD. Really fucking hard. The hardest 22 mile bike ride I've ever done. I didn't think twice about not doing the longer route. Tink was the only one to brave the 60+ mile ride.
Upon returning to the start, I rode directly to the van, unlocked it, got in and closed the door. It was the only place I could think of to get away from that goddamn wind.
We all had to laugh in the van on the way home about the stories, "So I was at the really windy part..." Oh right. THAT part. You mean the ENTIRE THING? Or, "I turned into the headwind..." Oh right. THAT part. But we did conquer something pretty amazing. I "only" rode for 1:45, but I burned something like 1000 calories while I was out there. I was putting forth enough effort to probably go, like, 30 mph. Which is good! Since there were, like, 30 mph winds pushing back at me, I managed to stay ON the bike. I hope everybody else is as proud of themselves as I am for just making it through the ride, even if it wasn't the most enjoyable bike ride of all time. Or, as Preston put it, "The worst bike ride I've ever been on."
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3 comments:
You SOOOO crack me up.
Dude. That was a perfect account of the wind, the pain, the feeling of wanting to throw down the bike and cry.
I have to say, though, and maybe it was just riding with Carla, I had a pretty good time overall. I was warm enough, which was nice, and the Trek Madone was SCHWEET-ah, and the volunteers were great, and the countryside was lovely. And I was pleased with my ability to slog through the hardest 22 miles i have ever done.
That was an excellent write-up. Thanks, Hannah.
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