Today started how every day of cycling should start: with a downhill and a tailwind. We zoomed down the road, sailing along effortlessly. I watched my average speed climb steadily upward: 20 mph, then 25, then 28. We were loving every second of it, all of us wearing big smiles on our faces.
Mother Nature and the fickle gods of cycling had other plans in store for us.
As the road curved around to the west, we were smacked in the face by the fists of a horrendous headwind. Our speed dropped from near 30 mph down to below 10 mph. The road tilted slightly up, and the wind roared down upon us. I knew there would be days like this, days where I have to grit my teeth and grind through the miles. The headwind brought a lot of gritting and a lot of grinding. All the kudos in the world go to Tom, who took a superhuman pull at the front of our small pace line, and lead us through the wind like a champion.
I kept hoping when we got higher on the mountain the wind would let up, and it did. About four and a half miles from the summit, we finally were in the wind shadow of the mountain. Mother Nature laughed at our premature enthusiasm. Just as the wind finally let up, the grade on the climb steepened. We shifted down, finding granny gears, spinning in the high altitude. At two miles to the summit, we rounded a corner and could see the top. There it was, two miles of climbing, winding road away. That’s when Tom lost all of his kudos. He attacked. It happened slowly, so slowly I didn’t realize it until he had opened a gap I knew I couldn’t close.
“Ummmm,” I said over my shoulder to Jim.
“Is he attacking? He is attacking! He just attacked!” Jim replied.
We watched him go. I didn’t have the gas, and Jim seemed happy to stay with me. We reached the summit shortly after Tom, grabbed some snacks, and headed down the other side.
Down, down, down we went. The headwind was still prevalent, but felt less angry. 20 miles down, spinning easily again. My legs were happy which made me happy. Once we reached the bottom of the descent, the road flattened out and the landscape opened up. Let me rephrase that. The landscape became a gaping expanse of flat grasslands, which provided the perfect recipe for…more headwind! Ugh. The road went on for miles, stretching out in front of us like a hot gray carpet. Tom, Jim, and I started taking one-mile pulls, watching the miles slowly tick away.
Finally, sand dunes! Finally! My face felt like a boiled tomato, my eyes felt like sand paper, and my hands and shoulder ached. My legs felt great! We pedaled on to Great Sand Dunes National Park, where the ride ended. I was glad to get off the bike and out of the sun and wind. I am hungry and thirsty and excited to go to sleep tonight.
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