Perhaps... but I watched the update again at 3:58AM, 4:08AM and 4:18am just in case the weather pattern changed. They claimed it didn't.

Winds coming out of the east are considered easy days for me, since I go north and south. In fact, whenever we get straight west or straight east winds, my times are greatly decreased. I look forwards to those days.

This was definitely a SSE wind- tired legs could have had something to do with me struggling through my ride, but like I said, I needed something that was a little more accurate for me. To that end, I would like to have my own device to measure wind speed and wind direction. I know you probably find it a personal affront if I don't rely on the weather folks anymore and instead look to my own devices to help me figure things out, Erick, but that's me- I tend to be independent, and if I can do it on my own without having to rely on others, that's what I would like to do. And there's nothing wrong with me wanting a instrument to give me better and more accurate readings than the "stick your fingers in the wind" assessment. I bet if you stood in front of your audience and said you're going to skip doing airspeed measurements with instruments and go outside and stick your finger in the wind... "be right back!", people would look at you crazy. It really grinds my teeth sometimes when I'm trying to be serious about something that I find an important aspect of my ride to be taken lightly, and to not be taken seriously with a response that gives me the answer I'm looking for. What may be funny and insignificant to some people can be considered important to others.

Regardless, currently I'm at the point where I make a push the next day after a century so I can try to work on doing a double century. However, if I'm feeling particularly tired, I need to look at other factors and see if I this push is possible. Sometimes it is, and sometimes it isn't. I was teetering between staying at home and getting some extra sleep and getting up and getting out there for a long ride. Based on this last factor, I decided to go out and do instead. Normally, they are pretty accurate with predicting wind and wind speed, but there have been times when they've been off- and I've been caught unexpectedly. I would rather not be glued in front of the television every morning- I waste time waiting for weather reports, when I can simply open my window and stick an instrument out there, and in a few minutes, I've gotten one aspect of my ride down and I can plan accordingly. This is all I'm asking for- well that, and the right to be taken seriously every now and then when I post a question on the board asking for some answers.

Koffee