Blown off course

The plan yesterday was to ride NorthWest of town then back to the East to Blair.  That didn't happen.   The planned route would have taken me far away from home.   The weather was so cold and windy, I did not want to be stuck in the middle of nowhere if I ran out of steam.  So, new plan, go North and fight the wind as long as possible.  Then turn around and ride home with the wind.

So from my office it took me about thirty minutes to get out of town.  I made it to the Omaha Trace rd then to Ft. Calhoun.  At this point it was only 1:15min into the ride.  It seemed like 3hrs.  I was out there and feeling ok, I might as well finish the ride.  After Ft Calhoun came a long ~5mi flat section.  I had been thinking about how miserable it was going to be.  I would feel the full force of the wind here.  I watched the time on my HR monitor, telling myself that  1:45hr was long enough to fight the beast. When the time hit 1:45hr I was only a couple miles out of Blair... should I keep going.  I didn't.

I made a quick stop to dig out a Clif Bar from my jersey, then headed South.  What a difference.  My speed was 11mph into the wind and now it was 31mph without trying.  I covered 7 miles in no time.  Went back through Ft. Calhoun and onto the flat roads by Boyer Cute.  There I completed a couple cruise intervals... getting my HR up to my lactat threshold.  With an assist from the wind I powered up some steep hills.   I was home free.  I ended the ride with 3:25hrs & 55miles.  So with the ride to work I had over 60mi and ~4hrs a little short of the plan but I will take it.