Windy Century

Only a week after the 6WC race, John G put together a century down South of Lancaster and back.  The ride features about 30 miles of flat and rolling terrain, then 40 miles of big climbs and hills, then 30 miles back on flattish country.   It was super windy that day with 30 mph winds coming from the SSW.  There were four of us: me, John, Todd and Daryl.

John had his new bike together.  It is an awesome custom calfee with a road/cross design.  He has two wheel sets -- road and cross -- disc brakes and S&S couplers.  It is super light and very stiff. 

After a late start and a bunch of smack talk, John got on the front and put the power down.  That guy has a huge motor.  We were doing 17 into a 30 mph headwind.  I don't think I could have done 14 on my own.  I was blitzed.  Perhaps my legs were still tired from the race, but mostly I just don't have the power output of John.  Todd seemed fine and spent a lot of time up front too. 

I couldn't believe these were the same two guys I raced with last week.  Yes, they had bike trouble, but they also seemed plenty burnt out after 3 laps.  Granted my 4th and 5th laps weren't fast, but I still had gas in the tank.  This week was completely different.  I kept getting blown of the back and these two seemed to have power to spare.   The big hills in the middle evened the playing field a bit, but on the way back John got on the front and parked it at about 31.  I couldn't hold his wheel and had to settle for the second group (mostly me and occasionally a merciful Daryl) at 26 mph.  

Unfortunately Todd hit the deck just 5miles out.  I think he took his hands off the bars to clean his glasses.  A gust caught his wheel and he went down hard.  Scraped, bruised ribs and some broken bike parts.  It wasn't pretty.   It was a very hard day to ride no-handed, just so windy. 

I ended up with 95.5 miles, 18 mph, 4600' climbing.  A good very hard day.