Ride Recap - a Windy Ride on 2/26/12

We had a group of 5 riders for a 52 mile ride on a day when the wind was howling out of the south. The group include Charles, Dave, Felix, Martin and me. We started out heading north with the wind at our backs and enjoyed the benefit of getting pushed toward Lake Bluff. When we got to the intersection of Ridge and Old Elm, we stopped to determine whether we would continue heading north on Ridge and stay on flat terrain, or turn west and head for St. Mary's and the Three Sisters (the series of small hills). Due to tired legs from challenging workouts on Saturday at Vision Quest and cross country skiing in Wisconsin, the initial inclination was to stay on the flat route. However, when the suggestion that we head west to St. Mary's was made, no one seemed to want to be the one to veto it. Thus, we headed west to St. Mary's road.

For the next ten miles on Everett, St. Mary's and Atkinson Road, every hill and overpass became an all out sprint. In addition to the three little hills on St. Mary's that are the sisters, a couple of little rises that can only be considered cousins at best, became hotly contested to see who would become King of the Hill. Despite Martin being handicapped by being on his fixie, he was the one that made it to the top of the hill most often. However, Felix also was first to the top of a number of hills. During a couple of the races to the top of the hill there was almost as much drafting strategy going on as in a NASCAR race.

After a longer than usual stop at Panera Bread in order to give our clothes time to dry out, we headed back home riding into the wind. The trip home was challenging, however with Felix doing more than his fair share of pulls, the group benefited from drafting off of him and made fairly good time considering the conditions.