Brutal Winds...

Went out today for my scheduled 50km ride and got tossed around like a ragdoll for pretty much the duration ;) There was a constant 30-40km/h wind coming from the south-west, but there were also gusts approaching 70km/h that took a lot out of me on the way back. To put it in perspective, I averaged 30.6km/h for the main stretch heading out (ascending 300ft) and only 26.0km/h on the way back (descending 430ft.) thanks to the wind. Despite the net downhill aspect, the headwinds didn't allow me to build up the speed I'd like on the steeper descents so the small uphill segments were a lot more work than usual. Naturally, the flats were also a lot slower than usual due to the extra drag that I had to deal with.

Aside from the additional work, however, the crosswinds were likely the worst part of it as it made it difficult to stay in a straight line. Under a constant wind it isn't a huge thing, as you simply go slower to keep your power output constant. The gusts, however, push you back and forth and require constant changes to the steering inputs to keep the bike on the road :( Thankfully there wasn't a whole lot of traffic out this afternoon so I didn't get into any trouble, but this is certainly something that I'll have to look for in the future and select a different route - this path took me past open fields with little to no protection from the wind, a more urban route would have been a smarter plan today.

Distance: 54.37km
Time: 2h00m18s
Speed (Avg, Max): 27.1km/h, 68.7km/h
Heart Rate (Avg, Max): 150bpm, 171bpm
Calories Burned: 1303kcal
Basic Telemetry (The RS800sd doesn't work with Polar's cycling sensors, so distance speed were manually entered from different cycling computer)

Either way, I managed to complete the route as planned - 7 miles with 8x100m scheduled for tomorrow!