| Wind Sucks |
[Sep. 13th, 2008|04:37 pm] |
As I'd not touched my bicycle in nearly two weeks, since my 105 mile ride to see the windmills, I decided to get off my fat butt and put some more miles under the tires. We had a 70% chance of rain today, but it held off, so while it was warm and a bit humid, it looked like a good day for a ride. It looked a little breezy, but according to Weather Underground the wind was only 12.7 mph. Not much of a problem, thinketh I.
I'd failed to observe that the wind was gusting to 26.5 mph. (42.6 kmph, for our Canadian viewers)
My legs were aparently raring to go, because as soon as I hit the road, I was zooming along easily. Quickly I was out of town and heading northeast. As the wind was out of the southwest, I again didn't notice just how hard it was blowing, though I did note I was cruising along at about 20mph. I rode up to Prophetstown State Park, getting there for the first time while their gate is attended. Opting to be honest, I asked if there was a charge for bicycles, expecting that they surely wouldn't have a fee for someone to ride into the park.
Admission for Bikes is $2.
Honesty. It'll get ya every time.
Since I paid money, I decided I would actually go up and visit the Historic Prophetstown farm, and see if I could see the Indian Village. The farm looked kinda boring, and I didn't even see a walking trail to the Village. Kinda boring. I did note a sign that said they have a Corn Maze open. I'll have to see about visiting that later.
The last time I visited the park, it was significantly different than the previous time. Once again, it was different. Almost all the wildflowers were gone, and the grass was taller than I am. There were hundreds upon hundreds of grasshoppers on the bike path, and they kept leaping onto my leg and playing in my leg hair. Very creepy.
I turned around at the end of the park and faced the wind. Ugh. It slammed into me, and cut my riding speed in half. Any slight upward grade became a very tedious climb, and even the flat sections of road required great effort. It was going to be a long long ride back home.
I slogged back the way I came, taking a brief rest part way back. It was like climbing a long hard hill all the way, and the wind was even stronger. 21.9 mph solid, with gusts up to 27.6. Twelve kinds of unfun there. Got back to town two hours after I started. An OK time, but it meant that I would have to wait for another day to go see Clone Wars.
This ride did finally take me over 700 miles for the year though.
I have another ride planned for tomorrow, but the remains of Ike are supposed to roll through, so I'm thinking we may postpone, unless Steve and Greg talk me into riding anyway.
Miles Ridden: 20.05
Year to Date: 716.91
Ride time: 1h, 45m, 59s
Average speed: 11.3 mph
Top Speed: 30 mph
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| Comments: |
![[User Picture]](http://l-userpic.livejournal.com/89353729/341215) | From: ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) pyat
2008-09-13 11:08 pm (UTC)
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700! Dude. :)
Yes, I hate wind, too. I'm not aerodynamic at all. | |
tired