Wind

Recovery is key! That is what I always tell my athletes. We are always at a stage or recovery - before, during, after training, it includes all areas of life. So I am sitting at my Ibook G4 recovering from my day in the wind. I set out today, woke up at 5am to prepare and load, met up with my SAG driver 'Scott' and 'Darin' who was crazy enough to ride with me (both clients of mine).

Yes, I spent the day in the wind on my bicycle, the plan was to ride from western Iowa near the Missouri river to my brothers house in south/east - central Iowa. I had the route mapped and estimated the distance at 142 miles. A solid ride on any day. As soon as we stepped out of the van I knew it was going to a brutally long and hard day. A 25 mile per hour head wind coming out of the south / east the direction we were going to travel all day. It was actually comical at times - Darin and I, both solid cyclists with training rides usually at 19 - 21 mph avg speeds. We would be riding on the flats at about 14 mph, then 7-9 mph on the hills, only to descend the hill at 10-11 mph. It was what I call a FORCE training session. Like being in the weight room on the bike. I had estimated that it would most likely take Darin and I 10 hours to make the 142 mile trek, including all the stops and refueling. Well at the 56 mile mark we were at 4 hours and 30 mins. We were trashed. So we decided to ride a bit with the wind at our backs. We made it to approx 70 miles but the toll on our legs was done. We stopped to refuel, met up with my brother Dave who was averaging 5 mph and the clouds came in, thunder rolled and rain started. You have to be able to say when, and the last straw was the clouds rotating just above us, no formal twister, but when you live in the mid west, you just know. So we loaded up and started the return trip, this time as passengers.

It was an incredible sight all those endless rolling hills that we had ridden, some damn long ones too. Miles and miles of them! One thing you experience when riding in the wind is the noise, relentless noise that never gives up. Makes your brain go numb! In the van on the way home is was soo quiet. The plan was to stop on the way back and take our driver Scott out to lunch for Taco's in Minneola, IA. As we were just about to drive through town Darin spotted a couple of MTN bikers that were riding on what is called a 'Trace', an old rail road bed that has been converted to a biking path (it runs from Council Bluffs to the Missouri border). Darin noticed that one person was down on her back and could see blood on her body / close. I immediately turned around and we went to their aid. She had gone over her bars and had deep cut just above her eye and road rash on her upper arm and bummed her hip. We her and her husband in the ran and put the bike on the rack and brought them to their car, about 10 miles down the road.

Then just as we were rolling into Omaha my van broke down, we managed to make it off the interstate and into a gas station lot. Some kind of fuel, alternator issue. I found a ride for Scott back to his vehicle at my house and Darin and I road to his truck then we returned to meet the tow truck and to retrieve our gear. We finished the day with a late lunch at Qdoba for some well deserved burritos.

So the day turned out to be much different than planned, but I know that Gods hand was in it all. If we would have continued to ride we would not have been there to assist those 2 mountain bikers and would most likely be stranded in central Iowa with a van that would not go!

I am off to work on my recovery as I prepare for my 4 hour brick work out that will start at 5am!

Cheers -

Kevin