CraigB

I decided to drive out to Brownsburg today for the CIBA "Tour de Loops" ride - a series of 4 loops with a common start/finish/SAG that you can combine anyway you want to go anywhere from 20 to 90+ miles.

My plan was to do at least a metric, but we had 16-20 mph winds out of the NNE (gusting to 25) all morning, so after the north and west loops I was pretty well gassed and called it quits at 50 miles. What with all the wind, all I could manage was a 15.1 average for the whole ride. At one point, as I turned from a north heading to an east, I deliberately stopped pedaling as I went through the apex of the turn, just to see if the wind would bring me to a stop, and it did, in short order.

Along with the wind, we had weird cool temps. The ride started about 58 and never got warmer than 63 or 64. I never did take the arm warmers off, though I ditched the wind shell and tights after the first loop. There were even fallen leaves all over the place, though probably more from the stress of the recent drought than any change in circadian rhythms. Still, it made for kind of a surreal preview of the fall cycling season, considering that two days ago it was 100.

Other highlights included a nice southerly downhill that allowed me to coast to over 30 mph, followed by a stop sign and an immediate left turn right into the face of a big (for here) climb. I got a chance to use my lowest gear for the first time since getting the new bike. Then I got to use it again when all I could manage into the wind late in the ride was about 10 mph. Until the dog chased me right at the end of the ride, anyway. That helped my average a bit.