Melalvai
10-24-2010, 02:54 PM
Today’s ride involved stiff headwinds, uphills and clouds. There were tailwinds too, and downhills, but those go by so fast. A couple weeks ago our ride had hills, sunshine and birds singing. I wished we’d taken that road instead!
The clouds threatened rain, but the forecast almost promised no rain. Going west was fast. Either we were all really strong riders suddenly, or that south wind was also a bit east! I called our "support vehicle" (DH) to hurry up, we were going to make Brashear faster than anticipated. Our support vehicle got moving and we hardly had to wait for lunch at all. I thought lunch would be fresher and less crunched and a lot more if it came by car instead of being packed into the trunk on my bike. Also I would move faster without a big lunch packed into the trunk on my bike.
Our support vehicle is a really nice guy. :D
Then we turned south straight into the wind and onto the hills. I had promised them a flat 40 mile ride. It turned out that I lied. I was sure from the google terrain map that this would be much flatter than the roads to the west. Perhaps terrain maps are misleading. One stretch through the woods was beautiful, with green rolling pastures.
A little beagle chased us briefly. We were in front and I told it, “Wait for the next two cyclists. They are bigger than we are.” Like the 3 Billy Goats Gruff, of course. Later a couple bigger dogs chased us. One kept it up for a couple miles! I have never seen a dog keep it up so long. He wasn't really chasing us, just running alongside us, like a friend giving moral support. The road had nearly no traffic, so I wasn’t worried about it getting hit, but I was concerned it might get lost. I decided to stop at the next house and see if someone could keep it from following us any further, and maybe get it back to its home (it did have a collar). Yes, someone could. The two big dogs who lived there volunteered at once before I even asked!
We were so relieved when we got to Hwy 63. It was all downhill with a tailwind. The sort of thing you only find in myth & fantasy, like Santa Claus. That 7 miles went by SO fast. I was getting super hungry right then. The last little bit through town was awful, more wind and more hills. I kind of wanted to call our support vehicle to get a ride for the last 2 miles. I actually got kind of dizzy but I knew I was almost home.
I'm not sure I've stopped eating since I got home. A 40 mile ride doesn't usually work up that much of an appetite, but it was a heck of a wind, and I've been training a lot lately (such as my first 5 mile run yesterday--52 minutes--wonder how much I can improve that in 10 1/2 months!)
The clouds threatened rain, but the forecast almost promised no rain. Going west was fast. Either we were all really strong riders suddenly, or that south wind was also a bit east! I called our "support vehicle" (DH) to hurry up, we were going to make Brashear faster than anticipated. Our support vehicle got moving and we hardly had to wait for lunch at all. I thought lunch would be fresher and less crunched and a lot more if it came by car instead of being packed into the trunk on my bike. Also I would move faster without a big lunch packed into the trunk on my bike.
Our support vehicle is a really nice guy. :D
Then we turned south straight into the wind and onto the hills. I had promised them a flat 40 mile ride. It turned out that I lied. I was sure from the google terrain map that this would be much flatter than the roads to the west. Perhaps terrain maps are misleading. One stretch through the woods was beautiful, with green rolling pastures.
A little beagle chased us briefly. We were in front and I told it, “Wait for the next two cyclists. They are bigger than we are.” Like the 3 Billy Goats Gruff, of course. Later a couple bigger dogs chased us. One kept it up for a couple miles! I have never seen a dog keep it up so long. He wasn't really chasing us, just running alongside us, like a friend giving moral support. The road had nearly no traffic, so I wasn’t worried about it getting hit, but I was concerned it might get lost. I decided to stop at the next house and see if someone could keep it from following us any further, and maybe get it back to its home (it did have a collar). Yes, someone could. The two big dogs who lived there volunteered at once before I even asked!
We were so relieved when we got to Hwy 63. It was all downhill with a tailwind. The sort of thing you only find in myth & fantasy, like Santa Claus. That 7 miles went by SO fast. I was getting super hungry right then. The last little bit through town was awful, more wind and more hills. I kind of wanted to call our support vehicle to get a ride for the last 2 miles. I actually got kind of dizzy but I knew I was almost home.
I'm not sure I've stopped eating since I got home. A 40 mile ride doesn't usually work up that much of an appetite, but it was a heck of a wind, and I've been training a lot lately (such as my first 5 mile run yesterday--52 minutes--wonder how much I can improve that in 10 1/2 months!)