The weather forecast today was for a 10 mph wind. So we intended to do the 112 mile Ironman course. The first 1.5 hours was brilliant. Then someone turned on the wind machine. It was horrendous. At one stage the wind brought us to an almost standstill. One rider had to get off. I was two yards ahead and had just about stopped but turned my wheel and the wind caught me a hurled me down the road. We spend a large part of the day riding at an angle.
It was too windy to take a hand off the bars to reach for food. The road around El Golfo took every inch of courage I had to stay on the bike but all I did was focus on my heart rate and cadence and I got through it. When we reached "death valley" we made the decision not to complete the 112 mile course for safety reasons. I had to take my contact lenses out as there was a sand storm - it was as close to cycling through the desert as I could imagine. Yet we kept going. Gusts of wind would either take your bike into the centre of the road and oncoming traffic or towards the rocks.
In the end we completed 75 miles in 5 hours and 15 minutes. The average speed was low at 14.1 mph but that didn´t matter. I finished the ride strong and having kept within a heart rate and cadence range I could easily have gone on. My worry about a speed wobble have disappeared as I have fought side winds that could upend you at any time and stayed on the bike. This was an epic ride but only cause I survived! It was the road to hell but I hope tomorrow we can take on the high points in the island again in relative safety. Bring it on!
Thursday, 8 March 2012
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