This time of the year in Iowa you have 2 different types of weather. They are as follows...Freezing cold and calm winds...or...really warm temps and insane winds to go with it.
Well, today we reached a high of about 53 degrees here in Waterloo. Great temps for a ride, but the wind was something else. It was blowing out of the south at 20ish mph. My goal for todays ride was to ride north and bust ass with the tail wind...then turn around and suffer like a dog back into town. Mission accomplished! Heading East to West with the cross wind I was riding a comfortable 22 mph. The legs where fast and snappy. Once I turned north, I was riding down the road at a pace between 30-37mph. Once I got to my turn around, the wind was there to kick me in the junk. Heading back to Waterloo, I was having a hard time maintaining 15 mph. There were times where I fell to almost 10 mph. I was on a flat road, but the wind was totally holding me back. By the time I got back into town I was cooked...fried...toast...you name it, I was it. To get back to town I pretty much had to turn off the brain. Just pedal, and maintain. Todays ride topped off at about 4 hours. I bet 2.5 hours of that riding was into the wind. Yuck!
To reward myself for suffering, I stopped by Cup of Joe in downtown Cedar Falls for a nice cup of java. This cup of java was brought to you by my Aunt Karen who sent me some cash for the B-day and said to get some coffee. OK, no prob. And a good cup of coffee it was. Thanks!
Today also gave me a chance to try out the new Fi'zi:k Arione saddle I picked up the other day. I have been running the same Selle Italia Flite saddle for 7 years on my road bike. Today I switched it out. First ride impressions....Sweeeeeeet! It's long and offers numerous saddle positions. I think I found myself a new fav saddle.
On my ride, I was also thinking about downloading my current mnt bikes and road bike. Right now the shop back home has first dibs on them for the up and coming racers from that area. It's the least I could do. I need to return the favor and help out the future riders/racers of the sport. If they don't want any of the bikes, then I put them up for sale on here. I am looking really hard at purchasing a Six13 Pro 2 in black. I have not had a new road bike in over 7 years. I am due.
That is all. No riding tomorrow. I am holding down the shop with either Clarke or Buchanandale. Any of you out of town roller racers can swing in and I can float you some ELETE and Recover-Ease.