I started out bright and early this morning. My ride for today was a 50 mile ride in the town of New Meadow, a fairly non threatening ride with a couple of mild up ticks. My goal was to go early and go easy to give my legs some R&R. What occurred was hideous.
As soon as I made my way out of to the town of Cambridge and turned north, I was hit by 30 to 40 mph sustained winds. The wind that was hitting me square on was nothing like I have ever experienced on a bike. These were not gusts of 30-40 mph winds, they raged continually and relentlessly at that level and it was all I could do just to move forward. Almost immediately after the wind came upon me my speed went from 14 mph to 6. I was on a flat road going hard at 6 mph! Things were going to get ugly.
The first town I would see after leaving was called "Council" and it was 22 miles into the ride. The road lifted just slightly about 10 miles out and my speed dropped to 3 mph. I could not sustain any momentum. The wind was powerful and cruel and I immediately started making contingency plans. I put far more effort into going forward then anyone could possibly imagine and I decided just to reach Council and re-think the situation.
Not only was the wind tenacious in its force, it was loud! The siren like sound of the wind against my ears became almost painful after a couple of hours. I went to my supplies and found my cold weather ear muffs and put them on. I ever so slowly made my way forward, wondering if all this effort for so little progress actually made any sense. I thought about turning around and surrendering for the day but Silver would have none of it. He kept forcing the bike forward ever so slowly.
Four hours and 22 miles later I reached Council. It was 11:30 in the morning and I took cover on the side of a market. 28 more miles of this punishment seemed a nearly impossible feat but I had all day and I decided to keep going. For the first couple of miles it was no better and my 5 or 6 mph pace seemed to be the way of the day. As I started to climb out of the valley however, the wind became more and more deflected by the surrounding hills and trees. I was able to gather a little more speed and the farther I got into the Forrest the better it got. I never thought I would be so happy to see hills!
I managed a rip roaring 10 mph the remaining distance and finally arrived in New Meadow. I was staying with Don Meroux, a retiree from HP. Don ran a mobile bike repair service and acted as the Fire Marshal. I was lucky to stay in his recently fully remodeled home, and that evening a friend came over later and we all drank beer and ate pasta.
Today I experienced winds like nothing I have ever seen and it was scary. I felt the fury of mother nature when she feels like showing off. It was relentless, demoralizing and punishing. I spent 7 hours covering 50 miles and used way too much energy to do it. I hope there are not too many other days like that out there.
My digital camera is dead and my iPhone cannot transmit photos up here in no signal land. I'll try tomorrow.
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