Riding on the Queen K and going nowhere

After Tuesday's ride I was a little concerned about trying the same ride just 2 days later. I really had no idea how my legs would hold up. Starting off I held back a bit but eventually my legs did warm up. The weather was once again a mixture of sun and cloud, but with more cloud this time. The weather seemed like it was ideal for the first part of the ride. But that didn't last long. Soon the wind picked up. And I mean real wind. I got scared every time a large truck sped by that I'd end up in the lava or the guardrail. I have never felt my bike skip to the side like that. I was scared to ride in the drops at all. Still the worst was yet to come. About 18 miles in the wind turned from the side to a straight on headwind. Throwing all notions of conserving energy out the window, I was pedaling as hard as I could, downhill and turning out an impressive 8-10 mph. I told Graeme to go ahead because his pedaling backwards to wait for me to get in his draft was way worse mentally then what I was facing on my own. I was so so thankful to see the palms which signaled the entrance to the resort and was really hoping the wind kept blowing in the same direction. I couldn't imagine doing that for another 27 miles.

After the same drink/sunscreen ritual we headed back. And while I had never worked so hard going downhill on the way out, I was rewarded with the tailwind on the way back. It felt really nice to go 28mph uphill with no effort - and to pass Graeme while doing so.

Still I was glad when the ride was over and unlike Tuesday I definitely did not feel like I could ride another few hours. Total - 55 mi/88 km in 3:25.