Well today's ride was one of those workouts you really have to dig deep to rationalize... The wind was ridiculous, even by Grande Prairie standards. We ventured out towards Beaverlodge...home of the Giant Beaver attraction (I kid you not). D decided we should start into the wind...do the tough stuff while still fresh was the thinking, but it kind of backfired.
I spent the entire ride making mental deals with myself, convincing myself why this was a good ride, and using every mental trick I could conjure just to keep pedaling. There was very little to be found in the way of gratification with the amount of energy I was expending related to the numbers on my spedometer. How bad was it? My average speed to Beaverlodge was 17.9km/hr. Oy.
There were times when the wind was roaring so hard I was nearly being pushed backwards. I tried not to get negative, as I know this sucks even more energy, and instead tried to forget about how slow I was going and just enjoy the fact I was outside on my bike.
I met up with D in BL and he was in worse shape than me. He wanted to call it a day, frustrated with the wind. I guess he is less used to riding slow than I am... LOL.
I convinced him to suck it up and ride it out for another 15kms to Hythe, just so we could get over the 100km mark for the day.
He agreed, but only after I offered to let him sit on my wheel....hehe.
The road shifted slightly north which was just enough to take the straight on head wind to a slight head/cross wind which was a huge relief. I made the turn in Hythe and enjoyed some real speed all the way home with the wind at my back.
At the end of the day, I was spent- 4hrs20 for a 110km ride is nasty. But I am glad we stuck it out.
We had a great bbq steak dinner and treated ourselves to an evening of lounging on the couch.
This is where life is really good :-)
TFTD Bike 4hrs20 110km
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