Dust in the Wind

Dust in the Wind......a classic music piece and a symbol for my Saturday evening ride.

I started Saturday with a ride through the woods - peace, calm, and most importantly, shelter from the wind. I had a ride planned later in the day with one of the guys from Team Mocha (Adam) and I was really looking forward to getting out on the country roads, but to start - it was just me, my bike and a trail.

Shortly after I got home, I knew my night ride might be in jeopardy - my wife was already voicing her opinion on how the wind had effected her 4-mile run (read: bitching and moaning explaining to me how it screwed up her pace) and I was getting texts from my ride partner, warning me - It's gonna be a windy one.

I got geared up anyway. As we (I always recruit my wife to go over my checklist of essentials for the ride) got things around, the American flag on our front porch flapping insanely back and forth, wasn't lost on me.

I started out. The head wind was brutal. I was having a tough of it. I was still in my driveway.

By the time I met up with Adam and his wife had pointed out to us how windy it was, I had heard no less than 5 times what a rough ride this was going to be. But one of my favorite quotes is If you wait for perfect conditions, you'll never get anything done.

So, we ride!

The beginning of the ride seemed okay, the houses in the neighborhood provided some much needed protection. The rest of the ride out was done at a lovely 30 degree angle. We had planned a 42 mile ride so the 21 mile ride to the turn around point was all head-wind. I'm pretty sure I know why they call it a head-wind now - because it was all a mental game at that point. My mantra was just. keep. pedaling.

We reached our turn-around point which was Adam's parent's house. We were met with extremely friendly dogs (and their tongues), a bathroom break that didn't involve a farm field and a look-out and a nice big glass of apple juice. As a matter of fact, we were juicing. Apple-juicing. (insert eye roll here)

And then we turned around and headed back out for our 21 mile journey home. This time, though, we had a tail-wind that had us praising the heavens and panting like dogs getting their belly's rubbed. I'm pretty sure the only thing that would've made this ride better was a sail.

-All my dreams, pass before my eyes with curiosity. Dust in the wind...... -Kansas

For Adam's prospective on this ride - check out his blog!