“Taking It Easy?”

I tried to take it easy today. Really! I don't want to be too warn out for tomorrow's extra long ride, so I paced myself.

Still, I was only a couple of seconds behind my last ride, which was a season high, and I probably would have beaten that record if it weren't for the fact that the wind was rather stong and right in my face for the second half of the trip.

I know at least some of the tricks riders use to reduce their surface area, tricks that are especially important when riding into the wind (on a windless day, riding at 15 miles per hour results in more than 80% of your effort being spent on overcoming "wind resistance", and the percentage goes up with speed). Unfortunately, I'm a very big guy, riding a bike that's a little bit too small for me, so I really just can't take advantage of all the tricks. I can pull my elbows in, and keep my head down and my butt up... but nothing I do is going to make me present a "small surface" to the wind.

I'm not complaining. I love my sport!