Headwind

I left the office sometime after 4:00 pm on a Friday afternoon (I started at 7:00 am). My bike was parked at work since I rode in two days earlier. I was able to "dress down" today but I leave a suit at work for when I bike back. It was dark when I packed and I realized too late that I brought one black and one brown shoe. So I have to carry one back home and make sure I pack the remaining match Monday morning. About four years earlier I dressed for work on a dark winter morning and did the same thing but wore them this time. In horror I happened to notice my shoes as I walked from the parking garage to the office. I could not go back home just to change so decided to gut it out and hope for the best. I stayed at my desk a lot that day and nobody ever found out. Had I been discovered by any of my co-workers, I'm sure they would have made my day miserable. I probably would have resorted to padding around in my socks just to avoid the abuse.

The day was comfortable with temperatures in the low 70s. A stiff wind from the northeast blowing the flags outside my building predicted a difficult ride home. Nor'easters seem pretty common on the ride home and for some odd reason rare on my bikes in to work. I might write Tom Skilling and ask just why this is. My prognosticating was right on. The ride was a bitch. My pannier stuffed with the extra shoes and my clothes for the day made a nice parachute preventing me from going anywhere above 12 mph. Tree lines along the northerly route provided some relief but the mile or so from Ohio to Oak was a bear. Once I reached Ardmore and the shelter of buildings did the headwind lessen its impact on my progress. Got home at 6:02 pm, showered, and picnicked with my wife, sons, and mother-in-law at Gilson Park and enjoyed listening to Special Consensus, a Blue Grass band playing at Wallace Bowl.


Distance Traveled: 24.7 miles
Distance to Date: 74.1 miles
Price of Gas: $3.36