Blown

After an evening of food, conversation, wine and ale, not necessarily in that order, it was hard enough to get up this morning. The temperature was cool but not freezing, but I could hear the wind from inside the house, and that's never good this time of year. I debated for a while what to wear, and ended up putting the vest on top of everything to help break the wind. I knew it was going to be a tough day the minute the north wind hit me. Even worse, it was really gusty; the wind grabbing at my front wheel unexpectedly. When I finally arrived at Lakeshore Drive I was running a little late and as the road went over the levee I looked down and saw just a single digit on the computer. Windy wasn't the word for it.

When I first saw the Giro group coming toward me I wasn't quite sure it was the right group. There were only five riders. As they approached someone said "this is it." Apparently the strong winds had scared almost everyone away this morning. Perhaps I should have been one of them! When we got to the end of Lakeshore Drive and the road curved briefly to the south, I sat up and peeled off my vest. I was just finishing stuffing it into my pocket when a gust of wind caught my front wheel as the road turned back to the east. I came just a heartbeat from going down before grabbing the bars underhanded with my left hand just in time to avoid plowing right into the concrete barrier wall at a 45 degree angle. The rest of the day was a constant struggle between me and my frong wheel that was getting blown around like leaf in a hurricane. It was definitely not fun.

By the time we hit Hayne Blvd., we were down to just five riders and I was skipping pulls when it would get fast in order to avoid having to call a cab to get home. Pretty soon, there were just four of us and I was really struggling in the brutal crosswind. It was impossible for me to hold a straight line in the crosswinds, and the fast pace wasn't helping, either. Even though I was skipping pulls, I was still dying at an alarming pace and my back and hands were starting to ache. I finally rode home with Realdo, happy at least that I had a nice tailwind all the way back. For the next couple of hours I felt pretty wasted and beat up.