blow ye winds and crack your cheeks

January weather in Houston is unpredictable at best. Most of the month has been rainy, cold , very windy and miserable. As a result I have spending a lot of time in the gym training and trying to get back some of the strength and endurance I had before my accident in November. 10 weeks off takes a heavy toll and according to general sports information, it will probably take be two to three weeks of retraining for every week I was off. This means I will just be getting back to where I was before the fall by the time I undertake this years long ride for charity which will follow the Underground Railroad from Mobile, Alabama to Ontario Canada.

Yesterday, for a change it was dry, almost warm and the sun was shining for a change so I mounted up for a ride. As I rode out I was happily thinking that my gym training was showing some good results and feeling chuffed about how easy and comfortable the ride felt until I looked down at my bike computer and realized that I had covered over 22 miles in an hour. Now on a good day, my average is about 15 miles per hour, so obviously I had been riding with the help of a tail wind without really noticing. Considering that I would have to ride back into it as a headwind I decided to prolong the ride by riding across the wind for a while.

It seemed a reasonable plan until I realized that the wind was forcing me to ride at a distinct slant, leaning heavily into the wind in order to remain upright. It was particularly interesting as the wind began to gust, forcing me to alternately lean into and away from the wind as it gusted stronger and died out. Every time I was unable to catch the wind properly I could feel my pedal dipping dangerously towards the pavement. I didn't fall over or catch a pedal, but there were enough close calls that after 10 miles of so I decided this was no longer a fun activity, so I turned back into the headwind and towards home .

How strong was the headwind you ask? The 14 mile ride home took me an hour and a half. According to the evening weather report, the winds had ranged from 20 to 35 miles per hour.

There were some bright spots in the ride however. I really enjoyed the tail wind on the way out and I saw some daffodils blooming as well as a Bradford Pear tree in full bloom. All hopeful signs of spring and better riding.