As an athlete, there are days when you don't feel like working out. Most of those days, if you go ahead and start exercising, that feeling will go away and oftentimes you'll have one of the best workouts of the week. Not today.
I thought today was going to be great. It was suppose to get into the 80s and I figured I could get in a nice long ride. When I got home I had that feeling of "I really don't feel like working out today" but I knew I needed to and so I got ready and headed out. And that's when I realized how windy it was. I don't know what's up with the wind this year, but every day it seems to be extra windy. Maybe I'm just use to running and don't feel it so much when I run, but it really affects the bike. There were times when I thought I would be blown off my bike sideways. I like tailwinds, can handle headwinds, but sidewinds - no thank you. It doesn't help that my tri bike only weighs 17.5 pounds and that was the bike I was on today.
Thinking that if I got more into the neighborhood I would be somewhat sheltered from the wind, I headed around the hood. And that's when it seemed like I had to start dodging traffic. Normally by the time I ride traffic isn't so bad, but today it was bad. It seemed like everyone was backing out of their driveway, talking on their phone and not paying any attention. And there were cars everywhere. When I stopped at one of the 4-way stops I noticed a guy on a mountain bike messing with his chain. I asked if he needed help. He said he had to hurry up to avoid the traffic and he ended up crashing. From what it looked like, he jammed his rear brake and was going to have to call someone to come get him. So he noticed the traffic, too. Sadly, even with all the traffic, he said no one stopped to offer help. I stopped, but unfortunately couldn't help.
I kept going. There is a part of my ride where I get on the sidewalk for a bit and then when I turn the corner I get back out on the road. Well, today there were so many cars I couldn't get back on the road. And then at the next intersection cars were turning and it forced me to go into another little neighborhood. Like I said, it just wasn't my day.
Plus, my legs felt heavy and I think they were still feeling the effects from last night's hill repeats. So I decided to cut it short and head home. I ended up with only 11.14 miles. Such is life. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day. If not, I'll take tomorrow as a rest day. I've got a 10K race on Sunday so I need to have a rest day between now and then, right?
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3 comments:
OH MY! I don't like to hear the words wind and bike in the same sentence! The first time I rode Tahoe the wind blew so hard it blew a teammate right off her bike....we fought the wind all day. I was on a bike that was too big for me and it had suicide shifters...I kept my bike in the same gear to avoid taking my hands off the handle bars. The next time I rode it was an absolutely gorgeous day! It was hard to believe the weekend before it actually snowed there! I am putting in my advance weather request for you to have a wonderful day for your Tahoe ride :)
We have been having some pretty strong winds lately. I can't even imagine riding a bike when it gets like that. I had a hard time keeping my vehicle in my lane, and it's not a small car.
I had a softball game last night and it was definitely windy. It was so hard to run to 1st Base heading into the wind.
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