I have never had a ride like today's. Never!
I looked at my WeatherBug before taking off this morning and saw basically flat winds out of the southwest. I'm serious. The wind speed was mostly 0mph. I checked the predicted wind direction and it matched the southwest I was seeing. Ride direction wasn't a hard choice. Ride west into the wind.
I walked out to my bike, got my lights and water bottle situated, loaded up my sunglasses and garage door opener and stepped out onto my driveway. Soon I was clipped in and rolling north up Pine Street to the highway. A quick left turn at the high school set me on my journey west. I was quickly up to speed, pushing my pedals in smoothly in circles. My average climbed quickly and reached 17.9mph in less than five miles. I was feeling good. This was the hard part of the ride.
As I looked west from the Drouhards' house, I noticed dust blowing across the road a short distance up the road. I didn't think much about it. I've ridden through dust before. Usually, it's just a little annoyance and then smooth sailing again. I rode nonchalantly toward the brown cloud.
Just before I actually entered the dust storm, I noticed an odd shift in the wind. Suddenly it was out of the northwest and it was not flat! Windspeeds had to be in the 15-20mph range or higher. I struggled to move forward and to stay off the road. One eye, the one on the north side of my head, was shut tight and breathing was a bit labored. In less than a half mile my average speed dropped from 17.9mph to 16.9mph. I was creeping along in the 12mph range most of the time. It was all I could do to stay on the bike.
I made it through a little dirty, but none the worse for the wear. Then it happened again. The wind shifted. It returned to the southwest. It wasn't quite as strong, but certainly not the little patsy wind I'd dreamed of gazing at my WeatherBug twenty minutes earlier.
I rode on through Danville, my average speed still bleeding. I was down to 16.2mph. I was maintaining just over 15mph when a dog, a big black dog with nasty teeth and a not-so-nice look in his eyes, decided today was the day to chase a lonely cyclist. He was aggressive as any dog I've faced. I squirted him with Gatorade. I told him to go home in the firmest voice I could muster. He kept coming at me. I finally gave up on an easy exit and just accelerated into a sprint to drop him. He gave up and went back to sniff my Gatorade. I was safe again.
Then the wind shifted around to the northwest again. I kid you not. Did I mention that I have never had a ride like today's? Never has the wind shifted back and forth like it did this morning. In the ten miles out it shifted from southwest to northwest to southwest to northwest and, just before I turned around, back to southwest. Bizarre!
So I made it out to my turn around. I flipped a U-turn and headed back east. I rode hard and in just over five miles I was back up to 17.9mph. It was like none of the twilight zone, dust bowl stuff had ever happened. The wind was never gale force. It was never out of the north. I blasted down L'Alpe D'Anville, reaching a top speed of 38.8mph.
When I got within three miles of town, I decided I had time to turn back back west and pick up an extra five miles. I did that and ended my outing with 25.27 miles completed at 18.2mph.
Sure hope tomorrow's ride is less interesting.
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