Lewis County

Our goal for today was to go faster than we did last year on this ride. Today we did this ride unsupported. They hold the supported ride in May, and we've ridden it twice, until this year because of the cruddy weather we were having back in May (and June and April and...).

Quick Stats Ride Distance: 99 miles   Elevation Gain: 3,232 feet   Average Moving Speed: 16.5 mph

Sadly, we didn't meet our goal. We were about 10 minutes slower overall (or 0.2 mph slower in moving speed). But there is a very good reason. Wind. It wasn't gale speed or small craft warnings or blowing down buildings or anything like that, but it seemed it was in our face all day. During the ride I can look at my iBike to see the wind speed but I have gotten pretty good at just ignoring it since it can be demotivating to know the extent of the headwind you are struggling against.

However, when I looked at the data after the ride it was obvious why we didn't meet our goal. We started with two 10-mile stretches of headwind, and then after the halfway point we fought against headwind for 35 more miles. One would think that on a loop we would get to experience as much tailwind as headwind, right? Apparently not, we only really had noticeable tailwind (both from our perspective during the ride and also in black and white in the graph below) on the last 7 or 8 miles. On an out-and-back ride you get as much tailwind as headwind, assuming the wind patterns hold. Not so much on a loop ride. At least not today.

RIDE DATA:

Okay, enough griping about the wind. Other than the wind, it was an incredible day. We started riding at precisely our intended time (7 a.m.) and the sun was on us all day long. Nice and cool to start, and plenty hot to finish.

There was also a mile or two of new chipseal on Chilvers Road that slowed us way down. Had I been thinking we could have simply avoided it altogether, but by the time I realized the alternative route we were already into it, so we crept along, hoping the tires would hold going through all the loose gravel. They held.

Had a close call with another dog, we think it was a pit bull, but neither of us got a good look (he was behind us, after all). He came at us from the right and thankfully I was between Amy and the dog this time, which seems a rare occurrence. In that split second of figuring out what to do I decided to keep my current pace and see if I needed to speed up by whether he was able to close in on us or not, and if so, how much. Didn't take long to blurt out "Go Faster!" to Amy as he was easily gaining on us (or really me, I guess). A minor surge on the pedals and he decided to give up.

No bites. No flats. Sun all day. Some beautiful scenery. All in all and excellent day.

RIDE MAP IN GOOGLE EARTH:

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