Two Wheel Blogs

According to the weather record at yesterday's Timetrial, the wind was blowing a constant 17 mph at the time of my ride. I can tell you, it was all of that.

Thankfully it wasn't gusting. I think that would have been the undoing of my day. I greatly prefer punching a whole into a steady wind over being constantly punched in the gut by a gusting wind.

The wind was coming straight out of the east, turning the outbound segment into a slow grind. Coming home, if you can believe it, wasn't much easier. I was running out of breath from spinning a high cadence in my biggest gear.

I'm really delighted with the performance though. Of course the time means nothing. It can't be compared to a TT of equal distance on a calm night. But what can be compared is the wattage output. I was pleased to find that after settling in from the start and the turnaround my power levels centered almost directly on my average power for the TT.

A steady power output was my goal. I was concerned about attaining it when I felt the wind hit me. And given the wind, all the shifting gears it caused, and the constraints the wind placed on cadence I have to say this one ranks among my best all-time power management efforts.