I left the house today at 1:30 for what was going to be a 2.5 3hr ride. It turned out to be a suffer fest from the beginning. I rode my Orbea which is my racing mtb and when I left the house I thought something was wrong, I wasn't moving very fast and the ride out of the development is all a slight down grade. Finally I realized that it was so windy I was pedalling downhill and slowing down. 25 degrees at the start and it had dropped to 22 by the time I got back 3.5 hrs later. 10 minutes into the ride my heart rate was up to 150 beats a minute trying to fight the wind. I was spending my quarters to early into the ride. I have never done this but since I was going to ride the bike path all the way to the boat docks in Rocky River I decided to take my MP3 player. As soon as I hit the path I turned it on, it helped keep me focused, there was times I wanted to turn around and head back home. The only thing that kept me going was the thought of the wind on my back on the way back. Like I said at the beginning it was a suffer fest my heart rate stayed at 150+ all the way to the boat docks, my suitcase of courage was open and clothes were flying out. Once I got to the boat docks I took a picture of the flags and as you can see they are as stiff as a piece of plywood nailed to a couple of 2 x 4's. I spent 10 minutes in the bathroom with the hand drier going full blast to warm up. A cop came in and gave me a look and I just said "it's just a tad cold out there" he laughed and said "have a good ride back". Well the ride back was great for the most part, the suitcase of courage was open but I was picking up all the clothes that flew out on the way out. But I should have known that I wasn't going to have the wind on my back all the way back. That's the way it is down in the park, you will have a head wind going out and on the way back it swirls. I had a tail wind for about 3/4 of the way back.
The wind was so strong that you turned a corner and it was like hitting a wall. I averaged 13.5 miles on the way out and 15 on the way back. I burned to many matches, spent to many quarters and lost to many clothes form the suitcase of courage to try to ride any faster. To top it all off, the last 45 minutes I didn't get a drink of water since the second bottle had frozen solid.
I got home and started taking all my layers off and I didn't even realized how much I was sweating I was completely soaked in sweat. The rest of the week it's supposed to be cold and the temps are going up by the weekend with rain coming in. Looks like another week on the trainer.
One last thought, I maybe suffering now but I know I'll be ready once my first race comes around.
I thought this was interesting. The bridge has a crack and water sipps out through it and it froze solid. Just an idea of how cold it was.
Just snapped this picture by mistake.
Hockey anyone. Just a few days ago this pond was almost clear of ice and know it's almost completely frozen again.
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