RAIN & WIND

50 kms | 2 h 02 m | avg speed 26.6 km/h | avg hr 151 bpm | 1.730 kcal

After two weeks not getting on the bike due to a flu with high fever, I went out today to a  very wet and windy ride. Saturday was already a rainy day but the forecast for Sunday was for strong wind but dry between 9 am and 14 am. As the satellite picture above shows (the little dot is where I live), it didn’t happen like that.

Depois de duas semanas sem treinar na bicicleta por causa de uma gripe com febre forte, eu saí hoje para uma volta com muita chuva e vento. Ontem o dia foi chuvoso mas a previsão para hoje era de vento mas sem chuva entre 9:00 e 14:00. Como a figura acima mostra (o quadrado é onde eu vivo), não foi bem assim…

Based on the forecast, I decided to leave home later than usual, around 9:30. At first it looked like the forecast was right as the asphalt was dry(ish) and the wind was blowing strong. I rode for around 10 minutes when the rain started. And it wasn’t  a light one. I came immediately heavy and felt even harder because of the wind.

I thought I was dressed well and calculated that I could complete my original plan of riding 115 kms. Almost a repetition of the last Nike team ride but leaving from home. I was also trying a new route to get to Doorn and from there to go to Amerongen. But when I got to Odijk, which is around 25 kms from home, I was completely soaked and had to re-think the plan.

Not only feet and hands were soaked, the chest was also wet. I could feel the cold getting into my body and that is never a good thing. So, I decided to turn in Driebergen and come back home which would make a round of 50 kms. I could push the legs to keep around 32 kms/h with the cross wind and 25 km/h on headwind to warm up the body, but the hands got very cold and feet felt like going thru mushy mud. No fun…

Got home and at least I am happy I could do some training. Tomorrow I will try to go back to the training plan with interval training and maybe some commuting by the end of the week… I need to pick up the training as those 2 weeks out really have an impact on fitness. Just looking at the stress balance, it is back to 50 points where I should be around 70 by now…