Is it that when I ride my bike into a headwind, it feels harder than riding into a corresponding tailwind feels easier? I often feel that way. The wind was quite blustery yesterday, trying to blow me backward as I rode into it and over when I rode crosswise.
Really, the crosswind is the worst – to a point. A lower rate of speed on the crosswind might blow me and my bike over, while it takes an extreme and unlikely gust in my face to stop my forward motion enough to topple me.
I rode to work in the morning, huffing and puffing as the wind tore tears from my eyes. There would be moments when the wind took a break and I would almost catch my breath before it whipped up again, finding every place where my skin was not covered by clothing and sliding up the legs of my pants.
Midday, I made the sojourn to the Rec Center, again on my bike, again blown about, despite riding in the opposite direction. Pushing through the wind, I did make it there and did a nice little run on the track. But on the way back, I had to change my gears, downshifting until I could push through while staying upright.
And as I rode home at the end of the day, it seemed that the wind was blowing me back to work again. How could it be blowing me away from work and away from home? Did the wind change direction from morning to late afternoon? Or was I gaining a story to tell when I become a crankypants old woman?
“In my day, we rode bicycles to work- into a headwind- both ways!”