W-I-N-D-Y + C-O-L-D = Sunday ride (WRCS #9)

Before I even talk about my ride today I have to mention the way my morning started. By now you know that I am a mother of 4 and that without the support of my husband and kids my biking/racing/training would not be possible. My husband had left for work at 6:45 a.m. and at 7:50 a.m. my 11 year old daughter came up to my room and said “mom don’t come downstairs yet”. She came back up to see me about 10 minutes later with a plate of blueberry pancakes in her hands. Yep, she made me breakfast, blueberry pancakes for that matter! That’s how I can do what I do!

Now to my ride…. I think the count was 18 riders all meeting at Windsor Crossing’s Café Mondo. Sure, only lady again, how much more painting does Kim really have to do? With blue skies, temps around -5°C (+ wind chill -14°C) and a good group of riders we took off for another Sunday ride. We weaved through the back roads until we got to the Greenway (gravel trail). Wind at our backs we warmed up nicely. The trail was still somewhat frozen. The group seemed to string out early and then regroup at road crossings. All was well until we got into a stretch of ice, snow, snow banks and snow drifts. Some of the drifts covered the entire trail for up to 40 feet (give or take a few). I chose to ride with slick tires. A decision that for those conditions was not the best but for the majority of this ride was the right choice. I stayed upright, but I was one of the lucky ones. There were a good handful of wipeouts, no injuries though. One rider’s carbon seat post snapped, un-fixable (if that’s a word). It would have been a long standing ride back for him but I brought my cell phone (lesson learned from yesterday), he called for a pick up. We turned around and took the county roads back. The wind was strong at our faces and it was cold. Single line and double lines formed and we would take turns pulling into the wind. I realize I am the smallest rider out there (on this ride) and that my pull may not do much for the rider behind me but I did take my turn. The ride ended after approx. 2hrs 30 min. It’s a great way to start the week off.

W-I-N-D-Y + C-O-L-D = my ride on March 1, 2009

Cheers,

Sue