Shoved Around In The Wind. Huffman – Liberty County Line
I watched an exciting finish to stage 3 of the 4 Jours de Dunkerque before starting today’s bike ride. While sitting at the breakfast table I saw how the wind whipped the bushes around beside the driveway. I hoped this didn’t happen to me on the bike ride. After dressing for the ride I wheeled the Cervelo Caledonia out to start the ride at 10:48 AM. Wanting a ride close to 40 miles I chose my “Huffman – Liberty County Line” thinking it would be about 38 miles but it turned out to be 40.07 miles by the 1:57 PM finish. Checking SportTracks I saw this was the 4th ride on this route in 2022 surprising me. I don’t often ride in Liberty County.
With today’s miles the week stands at 163.54 miles and the month 184.93. The Strava “Year Progressions” shows 2486 miles YTD 7 miles less than last year on this date.
The wind I saw while eating breakfast was waiting for me. The gusts were determined to shove me and the Cervelo around whenever it wanted. The hardest parts of the ride were going south. Fortunately the route went east and west more than south into the wind. My legs took a beating pedaling in the headwind. Weather conditions: start 81 (humidity 80%, dew point 74), mostly cloudy, wind SW 13 mph gusts 24 mph; finish 87 (humidity 66%, dew point 74), mostly cloudy, wind S 20 mph gusts 33 mph. I don’t need to dress for chilly weather any more. I wonder when the wind will let up some. I watched the weather radar before the ride as some rain moved through the area but none fell on me or the roads during the ride.
There were times when my legs pedaled into the wind that I shifted to the 35×15 gearing and rode less than 10 mph. The AXS.SRAM.com ride report shows 25 RD shifts. The overall riding time was 3:04:00 and somehow I managed to ride 1:37:02 in 35×13 gearing (22.9 miles). The 35×15 gearing totaled 13.3 miles in 1:06:14. My average speed was better than yesterday’s ride at 13.2 mph.