The 2016 Errandonnee has come to an end, the twelve days flew right by! Thanks so much to Mary at Chasing Mailboxes for such a fun and friendly competition.
I had a great ride this morning. It began with fighting a strong headwind for 18 miles. Normally I find riding into a stiff wind very demoralizing because it feels like climbing a hill except that the hill is invisible and never ending, but this morning was different. My mind was in the right place (for once) and I didn’t let that wind best me. I knew that the harder the wind blew the more benefits I would reap when I turned around at the halfway point.
Once I hit 18 miles, I made sure the road was empty before making a U-turn. Now it was time to fly.
Wind at my back, exhilaration in my heart I let the bike go at full throttle. My bike and I had been waiting for this, a strong tailwind to transform us into epic heroes. Every time I sprint down a road with the power of a strong wind behind me, it makes me burn with the desire to become a faster, better cyclist. To be able to ride like the wind…but without the wind. I want to be able to tear up the road like this under my own power.
When I came back into town I went to a friend’s house to do a few hours of babysitting. The two kids were filled with boxed up energy so I took them outside and they started riding their bikes around the yard. The tires of these little bikes were quite flat so I took out my mini pump and showed them how to pump up their own tires. The kids were fascinated and ended up pumping up the tires of all of the bikes they could find.
After their mom came home, I was able to get my mini pump back with some gentle coaxing and I went to donate blood. It felt good to donate again and the process went smoothly. (Although I did almost fall asleep at one point. They had me lay down on a cot and since they were busy, no one actually took my blood for 5-10 minutes and I got rather drowsy while staring at the ceiling.)
Then I ran a few errands before eating supper and going to a meeting at church. It was a busy day. And a very good one.
My last three errands were all pretty much in the same place, so I am splitting the distance equally between them to keep them all happy.
Errand 10
Blood Donation
Category: Wild Card
Distance: 0.25 Miles
After biking and babysitting, giving blood makes me feel like taking a nap.
If you want to be mean, you can just wait until tomorrow because I am not donating blood then.
Errand 11
Library
Category: Art and Entertainment
Distance: 0.25 Miles
The best way to pick out book sat a Library is to browse around until you find some that jump out at you.
And one of these books jumped out at me so I took it home.
Errand 12
Dollar Store
Category: Store
Distance: 0.25 Miles
People stared when I clomped around in the store like a horse, but I have learned to simply smile back, after all bike shoes honestly do sound funny.
My Trek doesn’t mind being a workhorse as long as it gets to go fast at least occasionally.
Headwinds are hard. At least with a hill, you can justify your speed by looking at how steep the hill is compared to the houses. With the wind, there is no justification.
I think most people got used to my clopping around in my bike shoes. Hey, it’s a topic of conversation!
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Yeah, if wind was visible I think it would be a lot easier mentally to ride against it. But the question is, if wind was visible what would it look like?
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Seeing that photo of your road bike almost makes me a little misty… You’ve come a long way, kiddo. Very cool.
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Thanks 😀 A large part of it is due to the encouragement and support of you and other cyclists online, you have no idea how helpful you are…you all rock!
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The pleasure is ours, Bri.
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Yes, demoralising head winds… the invisible enemy. Sometimes I think my brain just makes it out to be worse than it is… my face feels the breeze and my ears hear the wind rushing by them, and my brain decides my body should take it easy to conserve energy. But, we can always enjoy the tail wind once we turn round and head back the other way… unless the wind has decided to change direction in the mean time!
I had a 30 minute wait for my last blood donation – you had it easy :p
Which book jumped out at you?? (I employ this tactic too)
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The worst is when you think you are fighting this epic wind but when you look around you notice that even the trees are completely still…
Thanks for encouraging me to donate, Brian, it was really good to do it again. If I had to wait 30 minutes, I would have fallen asleep, no doubt about it 😉
I picked up Surprised by Joy by CS Lewis and a book by James Herriot, they are both books I have read before but I love rereading familiar books.
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I’m really impressed that you’d head out for a near-20 mile ride into a headwind–I’m blown away, you might say!
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Haha, very nicely done 😉
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Headwinds, oy, vey. I don’t know why they are so demoralizing. As you note above, most of the time they are barely more than a headbreeze or a headpuff-of-air, but still. My last ride to work I had honest-to-goodness 20-30-mph headwinds, even uphill. My usual 57-minute trip took me 70 minutes. But then on the way home, even though the wind had died down a bit, I made literal record time (58 minutes; usual time 65 minutes). Tailwinds are awesome.
So what exactly is the right place to have one’s head in a headwind?
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Yeah, that’s a real headwind, wowser! At least you reaped the benefits on the way home though 🙂 It is probably best to not have a head at all when fighting a headwind-that way you will think no demoralizing thoughts whatsoever. I usually put mine in my pannier until tailwind time, works like a charm 😉
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