One for the Books

A sage once opined,  “Climate is what you expect.  Weather is what you get.”  By that measure, we sure have been getting a lot of weather lately.

Take the forecast for yesterday.  It was supposed to be in the mid 50s and cloudy at ride time.  The temps were supposed to climb into the upper 60s, and the clouds to diminish.  It didn’t quite work out that way.

Five of us lined up to do my annual Audax 200K.  At ride time, it was completely overcast, and the temperature was definitely in the low 50s.  Unlike the Tune Up rides, the actual Audax ride starts out by going downhill.  So there is no chance to make power and self-warm.  (That does change after the first six miles.)  This made for a brisk start to the day.

Long rides and variable weather.  That combination presents us with some real quandries.  If we dress warmly enough for the beginning of the day, we have to lug all that stuff around for the rest of the day.  If it turns nicer, it gets annoying.  There’s all that stuff in the pack, the pockets, and on the rack, adding weight.  If we only needed the gear for the first hour or so, it’s extra aggravating.  A lot of us will choose to suffer through the beginning of the ride, with the idea that things will get better.  Sometimes that strategy works.

Yesterday a couple of our Audax riders chose the “suffer early, lighter is better” approach.  I tended toward that myself.  I was one of the more heavily packed, wearing arm warmers, a polypro base shirt, a summer jersey, and light windvest.  I had a super light rain jacket in my bag.

For the very beginning of the ride, it looked like the “go light, suffer for an hour” was going to pay off.  The temps crept up, and the overcast grew first lighter, and then a bit scattered.

Just south of Alvaton, I had my first intimation of challenges ahead.  It’s interesting.  This is often the case.  By the time we reach the turn for GA-362, we have been on the road for about an hour, and we turn almost due west.

The skies stopped clearing, and the headwind hit us.  A somewhat chill headwind.  It never really got warmer.  And that headwind never left us.  Does that sound like a recipe for a disaster?  It could have been.  Instead, we had us one great day!

The group contained no whiners.  (Amy reserves the right to shout about the indignity of the conditions, but she does this in a humorous self-parady.)  We made fun of it, and made the best of it.  Martha bought a thermal undershirt at a convenience store.  We all laughed.

As we approached the town of Pine Mountain, it started to rain.  Huh?  The forecast had called for a 10% rainchance for just part of the morning, dropping to 0% by eleven o’clock.  What was this!?  Again, this was a chance for a disaster in the making.

Instead, the rain remained intermittent and light.  By the time we finished lunch, the rain was almost done with us.  It delayed our start for the restaurant, but only that.

Of course, the headwind seemed to redouble itself on our northward trip.

What makes the difference between a “deathmarch” and a party?  Simply this, the nature of the group.  Good riding companions and good cheer make adversity a challenge and a game.

This was the smallest group I’ve taken on the Audax 200K.  I could not have asked for a better one.  Scott, Martha, Amy, Chris, I salute you!  A day met with courage and bravado, a group of people with happy determination, what could make for a better day?