I took today off work to get in some long miles. I haven’t yet broken the century mark this year so I was in need of some quality miles. The plan was to at least hit triple digits on mileage. I knew the wind was going to be out of the SW but I didn’t feel like riding all day on flat roads south of town. Especially not by myself. Today was going to be a solo ride.
Leaving the house at 05:30 on my day off was tough to do. However, if I wanted to get some much needed chores done around the house I had to leave early. The fog and dawn had just broken when I left. It was humid and sticky. The ride to Petersburg went by pretty fast. By the time I left New Salem the wind had picked up and I could tell it would be a struggle getting home bucking a head wind so early in the ride. I was pleasantly surprised on the road to Pleasant Planes. The wind didn’t seem to affect me as much as I thought it would. Exiting Planes was a different story. The wind heading south on Planes blacktop was either getting strong or I was getting tired. Having only 40 some miles I decided to take some detours on the way back. I took the keyhole backwards and wound my way around to Farmingdale. Eventually I made it back home with 70 miles in the coffers.
At home I refueled with some Diet Mt. Dew and a Powerbar. Getting to use a clean bathroom was a bonus. After filling up my water bottles I was out the door in 10 minutes flat.
Having only 3o miles to go and knowing there was a stiff wind ahead of me I opted to take the bike path south to Chatham. This would give me a tailwind home. 90 minutes, it couldn’t be that bad.
Well, it was. In fact, the last 10 miles home were ridden at a snail’s pace. In retrospect I should have known the trees on the bike path wouldn’t leave much of a tailwind. But I made it home in one piece. The mileage stopped at 102 miles. Not bad for a solo ride. I would pay for it later in the day. I was toast the rest of the day. It did leave me with a nice feeling of accomplishment though.
