As a bicycle, I am well acquainted with the wind. We have tail winds, cross winds, head winds; we have gentle winds, nagging winds, strong winds; we have hot winds, warm winds, cool winds, cold winds and frigid winds. Today, however, we had none of these.
Today we had a granny wind. What’s a granny wind? A granny wind is a wind that makes you drop into your granny gear on the flat. A granny wind is so strong that the only way you can even hope to maintain a decent cadence is if you’re running in your granny gear. Today we had such a wind for nearly 70 of our 90 miles. For about 15 miles we had a cross wind and were able to actually pedal — one cannot say enough about how great those 15 miles felt!
But for 5 miles we had what at best can be described as a great granny wind. In cycling parlance, the great granny gear (aka la nonna) is when the hill is so steep you have to get off and walk. Now, my human did not get off and walk, but for 5 miles as we came down a 3% gradient, the human had to pedal (and pedal hard) just to maintain 12 mph. I’d call that a great granny wind.
Needless to say, we’re pooped. While we got to ride through Saguaro West again and, because of the wind, really take the time to enjoy the scenery, it was a very long day for us. So, I’m going to get an extra nap while the human goes out to Tasteful Kitchen for some good food. Hopefully, tomorrow we’ll be up for our first brevet…200km tomorrow….can we do it?
Travels With Edwina 