Turns out to be a short cut

The morning newspaper reported that today's wind would be from the southeast.  I had a Guest Rider who expressed interest in riding a bit farther than she had on her first outing.  I left the garage thinking Minnehaha Falls, a destination ride off to the south.

We didn't even make it out of the driveway before it was apparent to me that the wind was much more north than south.  At the end of a street there is a family who fly the flag every day and when we passed that flag today it was standing firmly out from the pole towards the south, very clearly a north wind.

Later on in the ride we also ran into several legs which convinced both of us that the strongest part of the wind was from the west.

Northwest then.

So we set off on the reverse ride.  I sorta knew this but today really, really reinforced the fact that the shortest possible route to Lake Vadnais is the direct route, the route that you follow if you just start out riding in that direction and keep always trying to keep riding towards Vadnais.

GRider rode almost 16 on her first time.  I stopped a couple of times today and gave her an opportunity to turn back but she demurred and in less than 10 miles we were sitting on a bench on the shores of Lake Vadnais.

The forecasters were pretty much 180 degrees off on wind direction but most of the rest of it they got right.  It was warm and sunny, a nice day for a bicycle ride.

Vadnais is actually mostly northeast from here meaning that we had several bits coming home requiring west, directly into a stiffening breeze.

We made it home, though, stopping just before the final turn for a corn report.  Corn reports are always better with GRider for scale so we can all see just where the corn is currently lined up on her anatomy.

Mid to upper calf.

She complained later of having slightly overdone.  That's OK though, I totally agreed with her.  I was completely knackered myself.  I had quite a struggle to summon energy for grocery shopping and meal preparation but I asked her if she expected to be fed.  When she replied that that would be really very much appreciated I pulled myself together and visited the local market.

Food is good, especially if you have worked up an appetite.