Windy Metric Century
I wasted so much time today. I had planned on heading out for my ride around 1 in the afternoon. As is my seemingly unbreakable tradition, I stepped out about 3:30, instead. That gave me about four hours to do today’s metric century.
It was really windy. I headed out from my new place in Sunnyvale and did this big loop north of my place, before winding back down Homestead and hammering up Foothill Expressway. There was a stiff headwind, but I powered on, anxious to get my riding done by sunset. As I climbed toward Portola Valley, I felt that I could do it. The three minute water stop at Portola Valley turned into five. With a hard headwind to battle and cool high temperatures, I was feeling a little chilly. There’s only one way to cure that.
The wind seemed to come from whichever direction I was heading, no matter which way I was going. The stomp toward Edgewood was a serious battle against a strong crosswind, but the payoff was a screaming 46 mph descent down the hill. Continuing to fight the crosswinds, I kicked toward the southeast and my new home in Sunnyvale.
Sometime in my recent move, I lost my wonderful Bollé Tourney Leader shades. On Wednesday, I bought a new pair of Ryders, which come with three lenses, at The Bicycle Outfitter. About halfway between Page Mill and Fremont on Foothill Expressway this evening, I decided to stop and swap my lenses. It was dusk and it was becoming increasingly difficult to see. After fumbling around a little bit, I installed the amber lenses. Then I put them on my face.
Oh, my goodness, I had no idea. The dusk was suddenly mid-afternoon. I could see perfectly clearly, unless I looked around the edges of the glasses. I completed my breathless stomp around the loop and closed out the metric century exhausted.
Today: 62.82 mi; 3:23:24 (18.5 mph avg; 46.0 mph max)
Sept : 238.93 mi; 12:33:01 (19.0 mph avg; 46.0 mph max)
2005 : 5485.44 mi; 292:04:26 (18.8 mph avg; 46.0 mph max)
Goal : 5000.00 mi (485.44 mi over : 109.71% complete)
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