Weathering the Weather

Hains Point is a really cool place at times.  Last night was one of those times.  Yes, that's right, while the lightweights, wannabes, and generally weather intimidated stayed home yesterday evening, I rode my bike at Hains Point.  It was totally awesome, because I had the place almost completely to myself.  While I was getting ready I saw a couple of cyclists, never saw them again.  One skater, but he didn't stick around too long.  At the time I pulled out of the parking lot on two wheels, a runner headed out the other direction.  I saw him a bit later... one lap and he jumped in his suv and took off.  He had appeared to be a more serious distance type runner than that... guess the wind was too much for him.

I layered up with all the good stuff - my addidas bib tights, my assos jacket, the cold weather gloves, booties, a nice wigwam knit hat to keep head and ears warm. Everything that is particularly good at blocking the wind. Pretty much the only part of me exposed to the wind chill was my face.  And I stayed warm.  My face got colder on the descents at Skyline a couple of weeks ago.  The wind was amazing.  There was only bits of tail wind, that was fun - look, 90 watts and I'm going 20mph!  Of course that was on the channel side.  Over on the river side, well, if you ever look at the trees on that side, you know the angle that the strongest winds blow from.  I didn't have any amazing watts numbers this ride, because I was spending a lot of energy controlling the bike.  Picture this - sit on your bike, straighten out your right arm, shift your body to the left of center and sort of hunch over your left arm and lean into the wind, really lean into it.  Then the bike mostly goes straight, only occasionally getting pushed toward the curb.  But remember, don't have a death grip on the bars...that just makes it worse when the gusts hit!  I played with the gears - spin with the tailwind, grind into the headwind, flip it next lap, forget about it the lap after that, just keep going.  Six laps - I told myself the first lap that if I did six, that would be good.  So 76 minutes and 6 laps and I called it done, enough was enough.

Maybe the watts numbers from my legs weren't impressive, but it was a rare total body workout on the bike.  I was having muscle spasms along my rib cage last night from the effort my core, and all my other upper body muscles, had to put out.  And it was good for my head.  There's something about going out and training when the weather is challenging to make you feel stronger and tougher mentally.  And it will give me lots of ammunition to toss at the guys when next I see them.  "I was here Tuesday, where were you? You let a little wind keep you inside?  Wimpy, wimpy, wimpy."  Probably won't be tonight when I see them, though, cause it's still a bit breezy and chilly.