Found whimpering by the side of the road

Today was finally warm but the change in temperature brought along gale force winds. I don't really know but I saw one website report that was saying 25mph with gusts to 41. I think even in Auckland such conditions call for a rest day.

So I was resting but I decided to at least take a walk. In the field across from where I live a baseball game was under way so I wandered over to observe my second outdoor game in as many days. This time it appears to be Saint Bernard's against Saint Rose of Lima. These are two local Catholic grade schools.I am completely in the dark about whether they are heated rivals but I do know they are both diocesan grade schools (K-8) so I doubt if there were any major religious implications. I watched long enough to conclude that the level of baseball was abysmally low.

But as I was standing there I convinced myself that the wind wasn't THAT bad, that it was really only bad when it gusted. So I walked back home and went for a bike ride. As I came out of the garage to be begin the ride there were people in the field flying a kite. I probably should have considered that to be an omen.

But I started to ride. And it was THAT bad, except for that one direction where for some reason I felt really strong. At one point I was in an exposed area spinning along in my 36x21 (for those keeping score this is a really, really low gear for riding on level ground). I was making fairly good headway and congratulating myself on so doing when one of those gusts came up and nearly knocked me off the bike by halting forward momentum and bringing me to a complete halt.

I have occasionally accused TOPWLH and rides with me of being insufficiently hard core, of whimpering by the side of the road about how hard the ride is. Today I called her up on my cell phone and announced that I was whimpering by the side of the road and required that she come and get me. But I was kidding and eventually I made it home.

On the last block before home I crossed Fairview from a side street and fell in behind a couple of young people, college student looking, who were barely making any headway into the wind. Here's how windy it was. For those who are familiar with the route away from my house, at the end of the street the ride turns south and inclines slightly upwards for a block. Very slightly upwards. Today the wind was blowing so hard that those college students could not make it to the top of the hill without stopping to rest.

Too windy to ride but I did anyway.