Originally Posted by goldfinch

In the spirit of this thread I did a harder than usual ride for me yesterday. I thought it was moderately hilly, though you hill guys probably wouldn't. Roughly 1200 feet in 32 miles. The hills would have been OK though first gear definitely was required . The killer was the wind. It was the windiest ride of my life, riding either cross wind to be tossed around or into the wind to slog along. My ears hurt from the wind. I had to pedal down many of the hills to keep going, it was so windy. The uphill stretches were a relief from the wind because they were sheltered a bit. Some flat and open areas were so windy that my cadence in first gear was less than 60. Got chased by a pit bull. Smelled manure on the fields. Then it turned out that the one decent restaurant in Keosauqua where I was meeting the spouse for lunch was closed permanently. It was the hardest ride of my life. Yet I had a great time!