Happy Winds Day

Once on the bike the reason for those swells in the lake became apparent immediately. It was windy out there. Super windy with cross winds for the first few miles that were blowing people all over the road. I knew it was bad when I saw people stopped on the side of the road with fear in their eyes within the first 3 miles. Somehow I managed to convince myself that as soon as we left the town of Hurricane, we would leave the wind.

Starting the bike course



I don't really know what to say other than it was windy the whole 112 miles. Sure it would change up and be a headwind, or a cross wind, or both and sometimes even a tail wind  but there was never a time it wasn't blowing. As Winnie the Pooh would say, it was a winds day. There were many piglets out there who weren't very happy and were getting blown away but I found it fun. I mean I didn't sign up to do this race to be shown that I was soft and weak. I wanted an answer to how tough I was.



Many a time during the long ride (cause I was out there a LONG time) I would hear guys complaining. They would say things like 'I'm tired of fighting the wind and getting blown around'. I couldn't resist saying to one grouchy guy 'It's windy over there? I heard it was going to get windy today and I've been waiting for it to show up.' At least he laughed and lightened up a little.

Part of my Super Awesome cheering squad- notice that some are napping

I felt strong throughout the bike course and was holding back on the climbs. I passed several guys who had gone by me in the first lap and even passed a few of them who were walking up a hill. I also lapped a few riders who were on their first lap. I kept taking in calories and took in at least 1.5 times what I normally would for this distance. I was super psyched when we got a tailwind on the massive over 10 miles downhill, but seeing how far we got to ride downhill showed how much climbing we had done. It was a fairly straight downhill where you could really maximize your speed and there was no chance of a log suddenly appearing or a 3 foot drop so I let er rip. It was  blast to fly by big guys who were limiting their speed and sitting up. The little time I lost taking the last climb up the wall 'easy' was made up almost instantly on the descent. I finished the bike feeling strong and happy. I got an answer to my question if I was tough enough, the answer was blowing in the wind on a winds day.