Say Bye-Bye to Kansas Dorothy

Last night when I was eating my lovely home made goat and borlotti bean soup I remember thinking, "this could cause wind". Tonight on my way home I had a head wind of between 50 and 70kph. The ride normally shows a usage of between 1100 and 1200 kcal. Tonight it was 1910.

Anyone who's slept on a wild ocean beach in winter will know the sound of the waves smashing themselves against it. The sound of the worse gusts coming over the hills through the trees was the same. At times I was afraid I'd be knocked backwards. I found myself actually going faster up the hills because of the protection from the wind in the lee of the hill.

For the first 23km of the ride, I really smashed myself against the wind. I had to make decent time to not be late for my Pilates class. At times I was pushing a heart rate of 170 to maintain 18kph on the flat. The second half was much less hectic because I didn't want to undo any good I'd done in the class.

The wind reminds me of a winter northerly I rode into for two days on a 1080km randonnee in my younger days. Not a great memory.

The hardest part of tonight's ride was those sections when riding at about 10 degrees to the wind. Every gust tried to knock my wheels from under me and stopped me dead. A couple of times I got knocked 30cm sideways but each time I was able to catch it and adjust fairly easily.

There is a town in north Ontario,
With dream comfort memory to spare,
And in my mind
I still need a place to go,
All my changes were there.

Blue, blue windows behind the stars,
Yellow moon on the rise,
Big birds flying across the sky,
Throwing shadows on our eyes.
Leave us

Helpless, helpless, helpless
Baby can you hear me now?
The chains are locked
and tied across the door,
Baby, sing with me somehow.

Helpless - Neil Young

Yesterday I felt like crap. Today, I've had maniacs trying to kill me and ridden into a wind like a brick wall. I feel great. I love riding my bike!