A good road to be riding with the wind behind today
Apologies to Paul McCartney.
With winds of 50 mph (80 kph) forecast, yesterday’s club ride was cancelled. Quite apart from the difficulty of riding into a wind like that, a cross wind of that strength can put you in the kerb or middle of the road all too easily.
After two runs with Mrs Omil in the week, the cancellation of Saturday’s ride was quite a good thing for me as I slightly over–indulged when friends came over for supper on Friday, so Saturday wouldn’t have gone well in any event. Sadly, I continued to enjoy the left-overs yesterday so wasn’t expecting much from today’s solo ride.
Although the storm had passed, the wind was still a frisky 20 mph which put a real premium on finding a route with open, straight, roads when heading with the wind – and more twisting, sheltered ones when heading into it. There is no doubt that a bit of local knowledge pays off on days like this.
It didn’t go too badly although I was working hard to maintain 15 mph (24 kph) at times as the price to pay for the sections where nearly twice that speed seemed relatively easy. In the end, something like 68 km at 28.4 kph (42 miles at 17.6 mph).
I don’t know what the science is but it always seems that what you lose heading into a wind is more than you gain with it at your back. Still, a great way to blow out the cobwebs.
(an Old Man in Lycra) 