Monday, April 06, 2015

Hall of Elms C+X

Ready
No, not cyclocross, 100+10. More training for TI, this time solo. Started out about 07:35 with almost the full setup, bound for New Glarus, Evansville and the Hall of Elms. The goal was the whole distance at an overall average speed of 12 mph.

Starting out was great with sunshine and a light wind out of the southwest, but it would not remain so. Just about the time I hit the highlands west of town, it had kicked up into a substantial headwind. Combined with driftless hills, the pace ground down to about 10 miles per hour for a while. The crosswind was a little better down near New Glarus, though it leaned the bike sideways and threatened to blow me into traffic.

Turning east was fantastic, and I definitely got back on pace by the time I had reached Evansville. Did a 15-minute stop at the Quickie Mart and continued on to the Hall of Elms.

Hall of Elms
I had suspected while riding, and later confirmed, that the wind shifted around to the west-northwest and then the northwest as I made my way home. The last 20 miles or so were a real character builder. I was pretty shelled for the Badger game and honestly, for most of the day on Sunday.

Weather data:

Time Temp WindDir Speed Gust
7:53 AM 36° SW 5.8 -
8:53 AM 39° WSW 10.4 17.3
9:53 AM 43° WSW 11.5 17.3
10:53 AM 48° SW 13.8 -
11:53 AM 52° West 12.7 19.6
12:53 PM 54° West 12.7 25.3
1:53 PM 55° WNW 15.0 27.6
2:53 PM 56 ° NW 16.1 29.9
3:53 PM 57° WNW 11.5 27.6
4:53 PM 57° WNW 12.7 21.9

Photos over on that other site.

2 comments:

Hobbes vs Boyle said...

Well done! I went down the Badger State Trail to Monticello, up to Mount Horeb and back on the Military Ridge yesterday, and somehow I never seemed to catch a tailwind. Wind sucks.

Michael Lemberger said...

Thanks H! Yeah, there wasn't much to like about that wind out on the hilltops between Verona and Monticello. Spirit-sucking.