Friday 6 May 2011

Demoralising = less effort? 40 miler.

Distance 40 miles     Av Sp 19.0mph

Is it just me who notices the strange behavior of the wind and its killer effects? Trawling through a few forums revealed I'm not. I wonder if it occurs all over the country or just isloated areas.
The idea of todays ride was to get a tail wind for 70% of the journey by riding the opposite route to my last ride. Hmmmm.
 Heading North for the first 15miles should have been really fast with the BBC showing a Southerly wind. It was fast but hard work fast, I could feel a cross wind and then a head/cross wind at Walsden, still heading North, the flags changing direction.

Heading up the severe climb of Bacup Rd 'in reverse'  saw a head wind and the occasional tail wind for seconds at a time which would indicate a Westerly and Easterly wind. I carried on heading west and had a big head wind for the first half about 4 miles and a big tail wind with cross winds for the second half. Head wind heading South  East up Edenfield Rd but unusually felt some thing pushing me forward against the head wind, must be that Westerly which shouldn't theoretically exist? Guess Ill have to grin and bear it.

Due to the nice weather I have been using a lot of Scottie and TT bike but used Jamis today as there was a potential rain problem. I did a few small adjustments before settting off which enabled me to ride in the drops all the way more or less which I found impossible up to now.

2 comments:

  1. Interested to know what you thought of putting the Prolites on the Scott, especially in all this wind. Did they feel any faster?

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  2. I used that combo on the previous ride. Feels really solid,stiff and reassuring on the climbs and doesn't feel like I have a 2.3kg wheelset on. Nope, I didn't feel faster although I dont feel fast on TT bike but the Garmin says otherwise. On Scott they are much easier to control as Im always in the drops. Are they actually faster? A lot more riding needed! I have a lightweight 88mm tubular set and think the prolites maybe faster on flat. Gonna use them on my next 10 mile TT when I can get time off work. More importantly the Pro lites make a lovely sound even at low speeds. If dry sunday I may use the same combo.

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