Riding a bicycle against the wind is tough. No matter how aero your bike is or how aero your position is on your bike, when the wind is blowing against you at 15MPH and you are going uphill, it is sheer torture.
I rode down from my house to The Village and met up with Tom, William and Katie. We rode up Pima to Pinnacle Peak and met up with Shelly. The five of us went north on Pima and took a right directly into the wind and uphill on Dynamite. That’s when the real torture began. It’s only 3 miles going uphill but our speed was hovering between 6MPH and 9MPH. I was in my easiest gear pedalling hard with my heart rate well into level 4.
After regrouping at the gas station atop Dynamite hill, Tom took the lead as we rode further uphill and further into the wind towards Tom’s Thumb trailhead. Again we pedaled hard with our hearts pumping. The only consolation was knowing that what goes up must come down. Gravity!
The picture above shows all 5 of us (me, Tom, Shelly, Katie, William) from left to right. You can see Tom’s Thumb in the background.
Coming back downhill with the wind, for the first time ever I hit speeds of more than 40MPH. It was exhilarating to ride downhill with the wind. It felt effortless. I was in my hardest gear and could barely keep the cadence below 100. It was as close as one can get to flying on a bicycle. Gravity makes life on bicycle hard, but it also makes it easy. What it taketh away, it giveth back!
I ended up riding almost 34 miles with elevation gain of almost 2,000 feet. For the rest of the day, I relaxed. The first week of London Marathon is now finished. Tomorrow, I go back to work after a brief hiatus.