Gusty.. 

Today’s ride was a short easy one, well apart from the wind. 

It was a constant wind, according to the met office 25mph. And man could I feel it. 

As always on the short route to Ripley and back, it’s a tail wind down Bilton Lane, headwind along the cycle path and a nasty sidewind/tailwind on the busy main road to Ripley. Coming back, and the wind was blasting me from the side and front, but back on the cycle path, it was a tailwind. It’s that moment, where you can’t feel the wind, it appears calm, apart from the leaves moving. It isn’t until you stop you feel the wind again. 

Heading back off to Bilton Lane, dreading the headwind that I was bound to encounter going back up, I crossed the viaduct, and on. A couple where walking their scratty little dog off lead, and something told me that it was going g to wander. And surely enough it sauntered right in front. I stopped just short of its nose. And it just stood there, giving me a distainful look. With a muttered “sorry” the owners wandered off. 

And back onto Bilton Lane. And there was my enemy, that wind. Bilton Lane acts like a giant wind funnel, and I’m battling through it. Half way up, and I’m averaging 300w just to try and maintain 10mph, even with me as compacted as possible to present a smaller area for the wind,  But eventually, the end was insight. With my heart feeling like it was about to burst I finally turned off into the shelter of St John’s church. 

But then, another wind tunnel on St John’s road, before the mother of all headwinds on Skipton road. But home I was..