Friday was sunny and warm with virtually no wind. What a relief! The plan for the day called for 10-20 easy miles. Since the plan for Saturday was to do 62 miles in the hills around Manfield, I decided that 10 miles would be a plenty. Note: If you are bicycle training in Ohio in the spring and you get a warm day with no wind, ride big miles no matter what the plan is for the next day because...
Saturday dawned with a forecast of 15-20 mph winds and rain with scattered thunder storms. Four different people had said they would ride with me Saturday and I was euphoric with the thought of a group of people to ride with and the first organized ride of the season. With the weather forecast came the texts and emails of my friends cancelling and I was back to riding by myself.
I am uncomfortable riding hills and the thought of riding hills in the severe weather by myself did not feel very safe. Dennis offered to go with me as my own personal SAG crew (very sweet of him!) but it still didn't feel right. I made the decision to just ride the Northcoast Trail from Fremont to Elmore back and forth until I had the mileage for the day. Although I really need the hill experience, I made the decision to place safety first.
Because I had only done 10 miles on Friday, I needed to do 58 miles to make my goal for the week. I was only a few miles down the trail when the cold, driving rain came. I went in and out of the showers the rest of the day. I didn't get the climbing practice I wanted but I did learn some very important information:
1. My gear is water-resistant, not water-proof. Big difference!
2. The granny gear is not just for climbing, it can be very effective against the wind as well.
3. Talk out loud to yourself with encouraging words to give yourself a boost.
4. As previously mentioned...Make hay while the sun shines! When conditions are right, go for it. Don't put off until tomorrow what you can ride today!
I will say this, I am not sure that there is ANYTHING as sensual as stepping into a warm shower after 58 miles in a cold, windy rain! I wanted to hug our hot water heater or at least give it a massage of gratitude!
The goal for this week is 180 miles so I better go get busy.
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