September 14, 2016
Today I want to talk about the wind on the bike. The wind is your friend one min and your worst enemy the next. When it’s pushing you from behind all is great, you use less energy and you go faster. When it’s from the side it tries to push you off the road, it’s annoying but manageable if not too strong. However when it’s in your face it’s the most frustrating thing. Hills are hard but at least they don’t push you backwards. Cycling into the wind is the toughest thing I have experienced on the bike, the harder you drive the pedals the more it saps the energy from you.
Yesterday I see out on a course that was mostly downhill so I wasn’t concerned about setting off later than usual, at around 9am. Half hour into the ride I entered a new timezone so that made it 10am, losing another hour. It was also very cold and raining, as soon as I set off I knew I was in trouble.
The wind was absolutely shocking and I had it all day, the biggest sections of the route couldn’t be more perfectly positioned to fight against it. We were on the road for 9 hours, I cycled for 7 and eventually I ran out of light, and I had absolutely zero energy left. I had averaged 13mph, It would have been much lower if not for the downhill bits.
I got into the van, had dinner and crawled into bed. It’s now 6:47 the next day, I’m waiting for it to get light and today’s route is a perfectly straight road, directly into the wind again. My legs are sore and yesterday was perhaps my toughest day on the bike. I am not looking forward to today, I’ve spent the last 30 mins staring at an American flag which is flapping in the wind.
The only positive I can take out of today is that it’s my halfway point, that’s if I get through today! Safe to say I’m absolutely dreading it!
No photos today, all the lads are asleep and don’t want to wake them, I might add some later. I’ve used the colour black for the header, on what was a very dark day!
