Today Didn't Suck

But it did blow...and rain. Quite hard. For every 5 or 10 glorious days, there's usually a crappy day thrown in. Today should be worth about a month of sunny and 70 degree days. I knew even before I woke up today that the weather was not going to be enjoyable by any stretch of the imagination, but even I wasn't prepared for what I experienced.

After dressing (for what I thought was) appropriately, I poked my head out my front door and opted not to ride to work today, instead choosing to take the train. On the whole it resulted in about one less hour on the bike (round trip), an extremely grateful hour in hindsight. By the time I did get to the plant this morning to begin my Wash Cycle route, I could feel the wind burn on my face. It wouldn't get any better.

I've often said that wind is by far a cyclist's greatest weather enemy, worse than snow or rain. The inherent dangers from excess moisture are obvious: lack of traction, compromised visibility, and so on. Wind is much more unpredictable.

After loading up my trike, I rounded the corner a mere 3 blocks from the plant and had to stop to replace the rain cover, which had blown off due to a sudden (estimated) 25 MPH gust. It happened again about a mile down the road. I eventually got myself into a rhythm: when I'd feel a gust coming, I'd reach one hand back to keep the cover in place (one of the benefits of the trike, despite its reduced carrying capacity):

There were a few other wind-related episodes, some humorous, some terrifying. For starters, taking one hand off the handlebars means only having access to one brake, and with a full trike it usually requires two to stop in rainy conditions. Don't try this at home kids: we're professionals (I think I can safely call myself a professional cyclist even though I'm not an athlete).

Needless to say, the going was slow, sometimes by design and sometimes by nature. You know it's bad when you're traveling down a hill and the wind is actually stopping your tricycle that's loaded with 100+ pounds of laundry and a 140 pound person, not to mention that the trike also weighs about 70 pounds empty. Pedaling was so rough at some points that I had to use the electric assist on flat land just to keep myself moving forward. I usually only use the assist to go up hills, and on a normal day I can get one e-bike battery to last my entire route (about 3-4 hours or 15 miles). Today, I burned through a battery in about half that time and distance, and my legs are still sore from the effort.

At my second-to-last stop today, I encountered a gust so severe that it nearly toppled the trike when I dismounted. I looked to my left and noticed my clients' entrance door was swung open. A worker quickly pulled it shut. I entered shortly thereafter to a greeting of "Well, I've never seen this before." I responded "Me neither." I got back on the trike to head to my final stop. This time, the wind was at my back. I actually started to gain speed on a flat surface without pedaling. That was pretty scary, even though I'd tested and repaired the brakes just a couple days prior.

The ride back to the plant was uphill right into the teeth of the beast. At this point, it had really picked up speed and the light drizzle had turned to steady rain, which eventually turned to snow:

I don't apologize for not taking more pictures during all of these escapades. Early on, I'd stowed my phone away safely in an umbrella bag, due to rain getting in the pockets of my water resistant pants because it was blowing in from the side. I'd used another couple umbrella bags to fashion some crude spats to keep rain out of my waterproof shoes for the same reason - they only work when the water is coming from below, not above or the side.

My phone survived, as you can probably tell. The spats worked up until my final approach, when due to the near blizzard-like conditions and rain/snow blowing in all directions, I still ended up soaked from head to toe:

I zipped off the bottom of my pants and threw them in the dryer, along with my shoes, socks, and gloves:

A bit tough to see, but you can make out a faint outline where my slicker had protected the upper portion of my pants. I chose not to wear the rubber pants because I genuinely hate riding in them, so this is the price I paid. I still wouldn't have minded it so much if it hadn't been so damn windy. I can deal with rain and snow. Wind, I cannot.

I can honestly say this was the toughest 11 miles of cycling I've ever experienced, and among the top 5 worst days of cycling work I've ever endured:

Sadly, I'm not sure I could have prepared better other than maybe wearing my boots, which I also loathe to ride in. I hesitate to say this was the worst day, because as I sit here typing this, I'm actually quite thankful. I made it out unscathed, all my clients were happy, and I still got a lot of activity in today under the worst of conditions (including 30 minutes of walking between home, trains, work, and vice versa).

So today ultimately didn't suck, but I've had better for sure...