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Written by Zach
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Tuesday, 02 December 2008 |
Last Tuesday was shaping up to be one of those days I didn't want to ride in. This was entirely weather related.
Last Tuesday was shaping up to be one of those days I didn't want to ride in. This was entirely weather related. The wind was gusting out of the East at 30-35 mph with sustained winds at at least 20-25 and heavy rain. Slapping on the rain gear I would hear the wind howling outside. I live in a fairly sheltered area, so I knew I was in for a beating. It didn't start off too badly, at least I knew all my rain gear could take the abuse. The fixie was gonna be the issue today. One gear in the wind just plain sucks. It's great on all those other days, but gears would've been my first choice today.
I made it down to the Back Cove in one piece--the driving rain made visibility pretty poor so I put on my front and rear flashers. I am still impressed with the NiteRider Newt headlight. The daytime flasher mode can project onto signs 300-400 ft away in rain, during the day. I had to lean into the cross winds in order to stay on the bike. It wold blow me to the curb and then ease up so I could go straight again. Then the road curved to the East--ug. I tried to keep the pedals moving but I literally had to stand up and really crank just to keep moving. I might've been going 3 mph-- if that. One thing that's really cool is a new application for the iPhone called MapMyRide . I had used this a few times on the computer, manually entering in my route, but now the data is entered by GPS. When I got into work with my legs actually tired from the 5.67 mile commute (my new shortest crappy weather route) all my stats were right there. Distance, time, average speed and a cool elevation chart. it also maps it out using Google maps with mile markers along the way. So in all, this ride in was the second worst one ever. The one that takes the cake was last year about this time. There was about an inch of snow on the ground with high winds and stinging sleet. That stings.
As I suited up to go home I tried to figure out what the best way home would be given that the wind was still cranking from the East. Oh I picked it right, it was awesome. Nothing like a massive tailwind to blow you home. At times I was hitting 25-30 mph on the flats--maxing out my gear ratio. On one section I cross over a bridge and the cars in the opposite ditection were splashing huge waves ov water on me. I just laughed and screamed like a mad man. "Bring it," I yelled, "hell yeah." It might've been the most entertaining ride home ever (plus I was off for the next 5 days). I had a wide grin all the way home. Certainly that ride made up for a week of crappy, cold and wet rides. So even if the day looks to be the worst ever, it may just turn around.
I'm trying to make it a full year of commuting with less than 10 driving days. I'm up to 8 so far and have another 2 months to go. It might be hard if we get some big snow storms, but we'll see. Stay warm and ride safely. |
