Windy Miles

Today was the first day in over a month that I haven't either been at work or away traveling.  With Cohutta coming ever closer, I needed to be out there today laying some serious base mileage.   My goal was 60 miles; I managed 53 but with a lot more climbing than originally planned and it was fairly windy, so I'll count this as a success.

It was crisper this morning, with air temps in the upper 30s and a strong, steady wind coming out of the Northwest at 15-20mph.  I had an easy 30 minutes on the bike path heading east, but things got more difficult quickly after that as I turned North, pushing both into a stiff wind and attacking the relentless hills.  The snow is all gone, but nothing is green.  I know we'll have more snow, so I am not believing this is really spring.  But this time of year the landscape seems stark and barren.  And an incessant wind is always howling.  A few hours of grinding against the wind is enough to test buckets of resolve.

About 25 miles into my ride I spy another rider cresting a ridge adjacent to my valley route.  We are way out in the boonies and he is heading down an unmaintained road on what looks like a road bike; he obviously isn't just a putterer.  I decided to give chase to greet my fellow trainer.  I caught up to K. N. a few miles later on a steep climb.  He is a pilot and seems to put in some real mileage.  He was out here in the wind on the steeper, larger climbs and this was his rest day ... hmp, some rest day.  We chatted for a few minutes, sharing experiences and training philosophies.  He put it well when he said today is far from perfect, but it is the kind of day that you need to be out because things will be worse.  He puts his road bike prowess to good use and rockets us down a river valley.  The pace is too rich for me so we part company with good wishes.

The roads have tons of crud on them, mostly pea gravel.  The shoulder is a dangerous place to be and the center of each lane often has a line of gravel.  The bike paths are littered with mud, sticks, fallen trees, etc.  The cross bike is a perfect weapon for these conditions, but it does catch the wind just that much more.  I add on a loop to attack one more hill, Dragoo, with 250 feet of elevation gain and sections around 15%.  Then I have a long 90 minute slog into the headwind on the flat, exposed bike path to find home.