November 16th (Morning)

If it wasn’t enough that I have to contend with a 7 speed cassette now instead of an 8, today I had to combat some brutal headwinds! So, yeah, I’m tired… And I now need a nap…

I think the problem is that I joked in my post last night about all the puddles that appeared yesterday might be dry this morning… With the amount of humidity in the air (rain and fog), that seemed like an impossibility. However, I was wrong! I guess with sudden gale force winds, my wishes can come true! So I’m not sure what would be worse, wet feet or exhaustion… Hah!

No, it wasn’t too terrible. Plus, the weather was a balmy 7°, so how could you complain about that? Granted, Friday is supposed to be -8° but we’ll deal with that when and if it comes… I am extremely tired right now, and the wind coupled with the harder gear selection did take it out of me to be sure. I think under normal conditions, I would’ve said I had an “OK” ride, as I felt decent enough physically when I started. However, it didn’t take long for the ride to start taking it to me hard and there were a few hills where I actually had to fight with my desire to stop and take a breather! How long has that been since I’ve had to fight such urges anyways?

With the wind, granted, the puddles were very close to being dried up. There were still a few large ones left, but the majority of what I saw/rode through coming home last night were gone, so that was a bonus to be sure. The larger ones were easy enough to avoid as I never really got up to any decent speeds this morning and was able to swerve around them. With the winds, however, I was very nervous about the trees. However, I didn’t hear or see any of them come down, so I guess I’ve ridden in worse conditions!

Anyways, I’m starting to fall asleep now so I guess I should go get cleaned up and ready for the day!