Update

African Connection links are now in the sidebar to the right, just below the My Travel section.

Click here to see a La Crosse Tribune article about the mission in Uganda.

Sunday, April 18, 2010

One Hundred, The Easy Way

Spring housecleaning in the Coulee Region as mother nature scoured our little corner of the earth with stiff winds all day long. Not bad enough to keep us off the road, but we for sure altered our plans to avoid a 40 mile stretch of riding into 20 to 30 mph headwinds. Saturday's route provided climbs on Bliss Road, County II, along a very pretty road from Bohemian Valley up to County X and, finally, up the wicked County PI climb. It was 4,100 feet of climbing, but the route allowed us to avoid the worst of the wind. I don't know why, but I'd rather climb than ride into the wind, even though the physics tells you that wind isn't anywhere near the challenge. For those of you who care (there are some, right?), you can find an engineering treatise on wind resistance here.

Weather.com and the local news reports all promised a much different day on Sunday. So, after church, I was on the bike again. For a day without much wind, it was pretty windy. But the ride wasn't quite as ambitious, with distance and climb totals of 33 miles and 1,600 feet, respectively.

The ride total was no mere accident, though. By getting in over 31 miles, I managed to log my first "century" of the year - one hundred miles. OK, a cheap century, coming over the course of two days as it did. But it's early in the season, so I'll take it. And soon enough, I'll get in a real one. Really.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

So wind resistance is really resisting the wind?