INTO THE WIND

     The forecast for today was for the mid-40s in the morning, and a NW wind 5-10mph (according to the channel I listened to last night), increasing to 15-20 in the afternoon.  So I had a pleasant surprise when I woke up to see 52° on the thermometer.  My Sunday ride usually has a wheels-down time of 10 minutes before sunrise.  That has me leaving the house, today, at 6:10am.  That has me dragging out of bed around 4:30am in order to start the day with medication that requires an hour before a meal.  So, it was more like 4:45am, drink 16 ounces of water with the pill, and heat additional water for coffee.  BTW, both my cardiologist and my yoga instructor advocate at least 16 ounces of water to start your day.  Then I checked Facebook and the news and bicycling news while I drank the coffee. 
     I fudged a bit on breakfast, eating at 5:30am.  As I rinsed the dishes I noticed the thermometer had taken a nose-dive.  Dang!  46°.  Not a problem, just added arm warmers and long-fingered gloves to my attire.  The gloves are because the first 30 minutes are in the shade/shadows and has dips that will drop the temp about 10 degrees.  One last check of the weather, to be sure I hadn't missed a front coming through.  This time I went online, and read the fine print.  Seems like the wind will be out of the NE in the morning, shifting to NW in the afternoon.  Double Dang!  It took longer than usual to get the rest of the morning routine completed, so my ride began about a half hour later than planned.  This was good, in that I had more sunshine to take the chill out of the air.
     The first 50 minutes were into the south, so the mild wind came at my back.  When I made the right turn off of Loop 360 onto Bee Cave Road, I had 5 minutes "in my pocket."  Even though my direction was west and northwest, it seemed like I had the wind on my right shoulder.  Speed dropped, and I knew I'd be giving those 5 minutes back before getting to Bee Cave.  Once there, I made a right turn and had the wind in my face.  Another right turn onto 620, and I still had the wind against me.  All the way back to the car, with few short exceptions, I had the wind slowing me down.
     Fortunately, even though slowing me down, it felt refreshing and with multiple layers, I was in no discomfort.  Knowing there wasn't a PR in the cards, I relaxed and enjoyed the morning.  By 10am I had completed the ride. returned home, showered, had a protein shake, and turned on the computer to catch the last of the Giro (Team Time Trial today).