I had second thoughts but man, I have been wanting to ride in the wind. It's fun to me. I know I can't beat it so I find a good spin and work with it. Never going to beat the wind so I just ride. I see others cranking it up going with the wind but not this boy. I conserve and save the energy for the return. Common sense tells you if it's too easy one way, it's going to kill you the other way ha ha!
Yeah, I like the wind. I ride into the wind or with it. You get to liking it if you do it right. Unlike some fool I knew on a cycling forum. He parked a car at Green River and one at the south end of the trail. Hoping to get in a fast ride with the wind. C'mon man, any body who actually rides their bike will tell you the wind is going to change somewhere along the line. Give me a 30 mile long tailwind and I'll give you free tickets to Disneyland ha ha! Not really but c'mon! That's like parking a car at the shack then descending GMR so you have a 20 MPH average to post on Strava. :-/
But today was actually fun! Unlike most times I hit the trail, it took me about 10+ miles before I saw another cyclist. I want to say that out and back I saw maybe 10 cyclists total. Hey, that is cool with me cause I think it takes some motivation to get out there knowing it's going to hurt. Proud and happy to say I did!
I did see Alex at the beach stop. He rode up surprising me that he was out there. I really didn't expect him to ride after the long ride he did on the weekend. But yeah, he was out there too! I saw another guy that I could have sworn he shouted, "Beanz!" Maybe it was John R?
But it is a little hard for me to hear at times, with the wind, because I don't hear well to begin with, and the fact that I stuffed pieces of napkins in my ears to shield them from the wind hoping to avoid ear aches. I don't get them but at times I can get a cold feeling pressure in my ears with the chilly wind so why chance it?
Good thing I brought my tights with me. As much as they bug me feeling like my knees are restricted, they help a bunch with the chilly air. Didn't think I would need them but once I got out of the truck, wowzer, it felt cold, gimme my tights. I took off and though having a jersey and under layer, I was almost tempted to turn back after the first mile to get my windbreaker as well. But my upper body warmed up soon enough with the sun. Yeah, sun but chilly! Only a minimum of 59 but it felt colder IMO.
So the first section heading into the wind didn't feel too bad. I turned around and cruised to the beach in conserve mode. But once I headed back from the coast, oh my! It was tough as soon as I hit the underpass of PCH. Big wind tunnel. I knew it would suck but taking note of other riders heading back, I figured it would ease up a bit by Moon Park (405 fwy ). It did, I was doing 12 MPH there, yes that was picking up speed ha ha! Might have even hit 15 somewhere along the line but once I got close to Edna Park, I was pushing and going nowhere slowly. Didn't bother me much, like I say, you have to be patient in the wind, that helps.
But as I rolled through the tunnel at the 405, I hit the end and saw a thin rider standing there on that sidewalk that leads to a parking lot on the right. I caught a quick glimpse of him, looked fit, nice bike but I wondered if after I rolled by, he would try to hop on my wheel. For one thing, I wanted to ride alone. Another thing is I get sick of guys hopping on my wheel, sucking me for 5 or 6 miles then racing around when we get near a park or somewhere they plan to pull off.
I get these guys all the time. Suck my wheel for 5, 6 or more, then they go around and open a gap of 40 yards. OK, so why not return the favor? I don't feel like I have to race to close the gap after I pulled you. If you're a decent person, help those who help you! Of course they pull away some then I keep my pace figuring I just may catch them anyway holding my pace. Of course they turn off before I can. Really not impressive at all!
So I was heading up the short little climb, felt twice as long with the wind. I looked back and sure enough, he's standing on the climb. I'm guessing in an attempt to catch me. Screw that! I turned it on and flew up the hill much faster than I figured I could with this headwind ha ha! I'm sure the little skinny guys think they're going to catch us big guys on the little climbs, not this boy!
I got to the top and see him looking like he wanted to catch me and take my wheel. I got to the top, took a drink, caught my breath then continued on trying to lift the pace some. I look back at the next underpass and he's about 20 yards behind me. He closed the gap some but you know what, you ain't gonna catch me ha ha! I went down on the drops, unusual for me and lifted the pace. I was pushing pretty good. A mile later I look back and he's half a strip behind me, maybe 100 yards or more. The sign, the sign someone gassed out and so I knew he was not going to be able to catch me now. Hell no you ain't using this big boy today ha ha!
Oh yeah, I wore my Fat Bastard jersey today. If I passed anybody in this hard wind, or if you couldn't catch me today, you can tell your friends you couldn't catch a fat bastard ha ha!
But anyway, I got back to my truck and felt pretty good. I had thought about doing the 36 to Circle K when I first started but once I felt the wind speed, I settled for 32 doubling back at Lincoln. But hey, feeling good at the end of the ride, I just kept going for another 1.5 so that once I turned back, I'd have 35 at the end of the ride. Could have easily done 36 but that one mile was not meaningful to me. But 35 does sound much better than 32 ha ha!
I knew it was windy today. Every time I opened my mouth to take a deep breath, spit would fly out. Not to mention, at times, snot would fly out of my nose at will, not my will though ha ha! That's when you know it's windy! :-P
Rather empty trail as you can tell from the pic!
Sitting up so the wind doesn't blow snot out of my nose. Now that I think of it, I didn't have snot in my nose but the wind was blowing snot from somewhere, that's how HARD the wind was blowing ha ha!
Made me want In-N-Out
Poor trees
Alex on another long ride.
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