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Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Riding like into the Wind

I'm not sure anyone actually enjoys riding in the wind unless it's a tailwind and you're on your way home.  Today was not such a day.  When the wind blows in Denver, it's generally pretty predictable.  Predictable in direction and strength.  It blows anywhere from the West to the North and it usually blows hard (double entendre intended).

So rather than do my normal lunchtime cycling route which consist of riding South on the Platt River bike path until it's time to turn around I decided to head ESE on the Cherry Creek bike path thus avoiding the cement recycling plant and various junkyards around mile 10 and the very stinky garbage plant at mile 11.  In return, I enjoyed a very nice 11-mile ride out to Cherry Creek Reservoir (it's very scenic, no garbage plants or junkyards) and a not very nice 11-mile ride back in a pretty nasty headwind.  It was manageable until just West of the Cherry Creek Country Club when the bike path and Platt River dip down into this channel that runs in between the two sides of Speer Blvd.  This channel becomes a wind tunnel when the wind blows and it flat out sucks if you have a headwind.  This last section of the path is not long; it was the last 3 miles of my ride and was supposed to be my cool down.  But trying to ride in Z2 in a nasty headwind is like trying to stay in Z2 while climbing Old Stage - you can do it, but it either involves walking your bike or riding so slowly that pedestrians pass you and give you the eye.

I get frustrated very easy in such situations and can go from patiently plodding along at some ungodly slow speed to a Z5 hammerfest in order to get the damn ride over with.  Today was no exception.  I just hope that combined with this evening's Master's swim workout, I didn't tank my legs for tomorrows 11.5-mile run.

You may recall that two weeks ago my long run didn't turn out so nice.  This time I'm bringing my fuel belt, a pouch for my iPod, and will damn sure eat a larger breakfast.  There will be no bonking.

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