One lucky bird...

It has been a couple of days and they have been adventurous!

This past Thursday I had a new 20 mile trip planned, but I had to call it after only 6 miles. Can you believe that!?! 6 miles!!

Okay, that was when I decided to turn around. I picked a new route that would take me over hills and through the woods (but not to grandmother's house). The first problem was that I didn't realize that this route has more uphills than down. Disappointing though that may be, it is a fact of life. I'm fine with that, in theory.

However, the hills were not the problem. I know I sound like a broken record, but this was one of the worst headwinds that I have ever felt on a consistent basis. Just to put it in perspective, I was still actively working to pedal downhill (on the few that I got). In fact I had to make three rest stops before I even go to the 6-mile mark!

You see, I had crested a hill, and I saw this nice, long, flat, beautiful straightaway. I was so excited, to be honest, but the problem was that I was pedaling as hard as I could wand was only keeping about 13.5 mph. I knew something was wrong, and about half way along this straightaway, I decided to give up and head home. This was my third stop and I cheked my bike's computer. I had barely managed 12 mph.

6 miles in 30 minutes!! Simply put: that's pathetic.

After I turned around, I had the wind behind me, and it was a dream come true. I was dang near flying home. As I was going I decided to test the wind. Since it was coming straight from behind on the flat, I rode until I could no longer feel the wind. Although I could see the grass in the fields blowing, I felt nothing! No wind against against my face, nor on my back. If my theory is correct, that means I was traveling as fast as the wind, which means I had been riding against a 15mph headwind. No wonder it was hard.

So I cruised home, fairly quickly. Actually, I rode the 6 miles home 10 minutes faster than it took to get there (avg. 18mph). That was quite impressive, but it averaged the day out to a nice 15mph trip.

That was Thursday. Unfortunately I didn't get to ride yesterday or today because my wife is feeling sick and I was taking care of the boys as needed. I let her rest as much as possible since I return to work next week after spring break. And then it's going to be soccer games and practice that will kill my cycling. Oh how I cannot wait for summer.

Still wondering about the title of this post? Well I hit a bird tonight. (I snuck out at dusk after the boys went down for a quick 5 miler.) As I was riding I saw this cat pounce ten feet. A bird flew away just as the cat got to him, and the bird was actually hit in the air. This threw him off just enough that it hit my leg as I coming by. In spite of this, the bird still managed to fly away and it seemed to be okay. All I can say is that with two close calls, that truly is one luck bird!