But I can't let it stop me. If I only rode when it wasn't cold or raining or foggy or windy, I would get much riding in at all. Fill in the blanks with your own local, prevalent weather conditions and I'm sure you all say the same thing. So we perservere. But the past few days have been nuts here on the coast. Winds out of the N/NW avergaing 16mph and gusting up to 20-35mph. I have been WOIKIN' I tell you. My after work rides are 50% straight into those N/NW winds and they really work you over. I've been striving to keep my revs up to between 85-95rpm and when those winds hit head on, I can really start to feel the burn as I push harder to spin those 90s... and then -BAM!- you get hit with a few seconds of 30mph blast and just watch the speedo and the revs drop. So, I kick down the gears until I can get the 90s going again and it goes that way all the way home for 5 or 6 miles. Then I start heading east , thinking I'm free but, no, the wind shifts now to a NE wind. Between that and the short, steep climbs I've been hunting down, I am feeling it today. But I feel good, too, because I got out there and DID it; I won't let it beat me. I figure I can get out there and gripe about it or just say "Bring it on, I won't let you beat me!" and it's actually a wonderful sense of accomplishment. Of course, the great part is: if half the ride is INTO the wind, then the *other* half is.... oh yeah, baby. Luckily I have a couple of days to recover ( no riding tonight or tomorrow ).