Thirteen...

This morning's ride was interesting. That's being nice. I got out the door a little after 5:30 and rode east. The WeatherBug said the wind was from the east. It still says that. It was NOT from the east. Deceptive little online weather thingy! I was almost to the edge of town when I realized I didn't have a taillight on my bike. Oops! I turned around and rode back toward the house. I had to climb that stupid hill on the highway. Grrrr! I hate that hill. At least I had a street sweeper to chase, so I climbed it fairly quickly. I passed the machine!

When I got home, I found my light, set it to flash and rode off again. This time I put a little anger to the pedals. I chased a pickup truck all the way to the edge of town, then rode out into the darkness. Remember the wind direction thing? I should have known that the WeatherBug had lied to me. I was cruising along near 20mph for quite a bit of the eastbound leg of my journey. I was climbing hills at 18mph. I should have figured out that I was getting assistance. Instead, I thought to myself, "Wow! My climbing legs have come back!" I am a stupid man.

I was nearing thirty minutes out, the point at which I was going to turn around, when my headlight started flashing. That was NOT a good sign. It meant I was about to be plunged into darkness. I slowed down and stopped on the side of the road before the blackness came. Thankfully, I was wearing a headlamp too, so I could see to restart my bike's light on low beam. I decided to turn around then and there. I didn't know how long the battery would last. I didn't want to be in the dark with no beam.

The wind was in my face when I turned around. Still, for the first few miles I maintained decent speed. Then came the little speed bump hills. I saw my first (and only) mile over 4:00. That's less than 15mph. I didn't like that. On the way out, I'd had three miles in a row at 19mph.

I rode back into town. I considered riding up to Maple and circling around to home, but decided to just get this ride over with. I rode straight up Highway 54 and climbed that stupid hill again. There wasn't anyone to chase this time, so I jumped out of the saddle and mashed the pedals against my unseen enemy, gravity. I crested the hill, rode to Cooper Tire and cornered. From there it was only a few more turns to the end.

I looked down at my Garmin when I stopped. Thirteen miles. Figures. (garmin data)