This summer I’ve been biking more than ever on my new bike, so my brain is going to more places than I’m used to. The wind is all I was thinking about the other day. Here in Michigan, we (I, for sure) cherish the summers, and a nice breeze is always enjoyable. Unless you are me, on my bike, pedaling into it.
So I replaced a 15 year old bicycle earlier this summer. I rode sparingly for ten of those years, but the last five, my butt was on that saddle pretty regularly. I had maintenance to do, more and more. My gears jumped, it seemed harder and harder to climb on that bike...so I shopped for a good eight months until I chose my new hybrid. I’m not a maniac road bike guy, I just want to put in ten-ish miles when I ride.
You know how when you buy something new, you figure everything is going to be perfect. In this case, I thought I wouldn’t have to pedal so hard, the sun would always shine, and the wind would always be at my back. Some lessons are hard to learn for me. Life doesn’t automatically get wonderful when I buy something, duh!?! Know this, my bike has performed magnificently. I have no complaints (except for bending the double-walled rim (my fault)). But this wind thing, it got my gray matter mattering.
For me to offset some of the cost of this bike, I am more conscious of doing some errands with rather than keep filling up my car’s gas tank. Better for my wallet. Better for the environment. Better for my for my torso. Better for my cerebellum. So I’ve decided to deliver the CDs of Listen In directly to our flagship station personally, and kinda sweaty.
Oh, it was perfect weather out for my delivery ride; 75, sunny, and a beautiful ten m.p.h. breeze out of the southwest. Grab my iPod, phone, sunglasses, helmet, backpack and I’m off. Now, theoretically, I’m smart enough to know it’s gonna be more work heading into the wind. So I’m pedaling, super aware of traffic (which makes riding seem like less time), but all the bunny hills are not such a cinch...dang wind going against my personal chassis. Suffice to type, I made it to the station and felt good about the workout.
As I hop back on my bike, I took a look at my speedometer readings...I averaged 12.4 m.p.h. A little slower than I’d like, but I was going mostly into the wind. (So that’s like a 22.4 m.p.h. against me, right?) I decided to race myself, my time going vs. my time returning...because I’ll be going with the wind. Well, when I arrived back as the office/studio my stinking average was again, 12.4 m.p.h. How can this be? Was I dogging it? Didn’t seem like it. But it did seem like I was still going against the wind. The same question comes back to me, How can this be?
Now, here’s my brain on fried eggs, if there’s a 10 m.p.h. coming out of the southwest and I do a trip to and fro, shouldn’t I be getting something called “wind-aided return trip?” When I’m going downhill at 22 m.p.h. with a 10 m.p.h. wind at my back, I am, in essence, going against a 12 m.p.h. wind. What the...?!?! Something is not right. Is it the wind or is it my left hemisphere? I want some answers from the wind maker or my bicycle manufacturer. Seems like the wind is either against me or against me.
Settle...settle frank. Still, it is good to ride. It exercises my body and my brain. And the next time there’s some 40 m.p.h. gusts I’m going to ride one way, with it. Then have someone pick me up 20 miles down the road and bring me back. Environmentally speaking, that would be idiocy...but it would be wind-aided idiocy.