I started a bit early, riding from BJP, and rode about 10 miles before meeting LT @ PUE @ noon. It felt like LT was hammering hard into the wind -- I was NOT inclined to help him much, hoping he would show signs of tiring. No luck.
And it turned out he wasn't hammering all that much. Turned out I was "just plain tired". Why? Who knows. But LT did quite a bit of waiting, either stationairy, or slowing down.
Not much else worth writing. At the end, I was cold. Even after getting out of the damp top, I was still cold. Hope that means nothing.
Where was the promised sunshine?
"Core" of today's ride: http://veloroutes.org/bikemaps/?route=42903#
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Last year on this date, I was in Illinois, and rode 40.5 miles with a 20+ mph WSW wind. Heading south out of P'town was not so bad as I avg'd ~ 15+ mph while heading south. The few miles to the east were quite fast (wind aided). The 10 or 12 miles due north was GREAT -- 20, 22, 24 + mph for long stretches -- hardly pedaling.
Then I had 5 or 6 miles heading west / west-by-northwest. It was a VERY good thing that I was on the road which we lived on when I was aged 5 to 16. Knowing every twist, turn, bump, dip, tree, house (but I was disappointed to see that many trees and a couple houses were gone with no trace) helped as I struggled riding-hard-as-I-could at 11 or 10 or 9 mph into that wind.
I took a break in the lee of the church that is across the road from the house in which I grew up (the house was originally the parsonage for the church, but no longer served that purpose, even before we lived there). From there all I had to do was another quarter-mile over a bump (that was a HILL when I was young - reality and perception formed on the F-L-A-T of northwest Illinois -- not the FAR northwest near Galena, mind you) into some more of that wind, and then turn north for the last 5 miles back to town.
Every time I think I'm experiencing wind here in central NC, I think back to that ride: THAT was WIND.
Oh, with all the sidewinds, tailwinds and headwinds, I ended up avg'ing 16.2 mph for that ride -- the slowest of my rides in Illinois last October.
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Oct-25:
BJP: PUC Rd "loops" + DocN-Patterson-Burton-Bahama-EllisChpl-Amed-Butner-NewLight-G-P-MVC; w/ Lt. Dave; 70.6 m.; est 3590 ft climbed --> effort index = 106; 4hrs, 36min; 15.3 mph.
1st Qt. tot: 20 rides; 755.3 m.; 47 hrs, 31 min; 15.9 mph.
2nd Qt. tot: 43 rides; 2124.3 m.; 134 hrs, 59 min; 15.7 mph.
3rd Qt tot: 36 rides; 1947.2 m.; 121 hrs, 48 min; 16.0 mph.
Oct tot: 8 rides, 507.1m.; 32 hrs, 48 min; 15.5 mph.
YTD: 107 rides; 5334.1 m.; 337 hrs, 7 min; 15.8 mph.
Rolling 12-mos.: 124 rides; 6089.5 m.; 382 hrs, 33 min; 15.9 mph
New record for rolling-12 miles. (The astute reader has likely notice that the last several rides have resulted in rolling-12 records.)
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