Well, it wasn’t the best of days for a ride, but the cold weather and rain/snow is on the way out. After forcing myself to take a rest day on Friday and chafing through a cold and wet Saturday morning, I finally deemed it warm and dry enough to ride by about 1:30 Saturday.
Not trusting the weather, I grabbed the Surly, thinking that I might appreciate the fenders at some point. In the end, the roads were still wet enough that my road bike would have been a mess had I taken it out.
The skies just couldn’t decide what to do but luckily it never really got too bad. I would ride in drizzle for a while, then it might turn to sleet, then drizzle again, then it would quit. Then, it would repeat itself on a consistent cycle of about 10 minutes.
I had told Pam I would be about two hours, so that meant I was limited to about 30 miles. One option for that is to go ride the hills on Farm Road 249 just east of Strafford, so that’s where I headed.
The dogwoods are in full bloom, and were very evident out on 249. There is a nice stand of pine trees out there and the white dogwoods interspersed made a nice contrast to the green pines.
For some reason, I never felt like I could get into a good groove on this ride. The wind was blowing a little, and it seemed one of those days where it was impossible to get it as a tailwind. In addition, the air just felt thick and heavy. It was just about 45 degrees, and based on those factors, it was a struggle to finish with a 15.8 mph average speed.
I managed to finish at my driveway in exactly 1 hour and 59 minutes. I suppose I probably missed my two hour projection in terms of clock time because I made one pit stop in Strafford, but I made sure to point out to Pam that my riding time was within the projection!
You can click the map below for the full GPS track.
God bless…
TW
