Finally . . .

Got outside today.

And how awesome was it?

Pretty awesome.

I set up a group ride for the multisport club today, since we haven't been able to do a group ride all together yet and the forecast was for a high of 56 F with 10 MPH winds (that would translate to warm and calm, for those of you fortunate to live in sunny, warm, less windy climates). Only one of my ladies showed up, but that was fine. She's very chatty, and a lot of fun to ride with. The wind was from the west by northwest, mostly around 10-15 MPH, but gusting to more than that, I think. We started out riding north for about 10 miles, then did a little loop around Furley, KS (now if I meet any of the 80 people who live there, I can say, "Furley? I know where that is! Yeah, I like to ride around there). And it was a really, really little loop. Like less than 2 miles. Then we headed east for 4 miles, the wind at our backs the whole way (and downhill for most of it, to boot). That little jog east was amazing. Even going up the hills, our speed never dropped below 20 MPH. Of course after all that wonderfulness, we had to turn back around and ride uphill into the wind. We did some quick arithmetic, and found it amusing that the speed of the wind was forecast for 13 MPH, which is approximately how much slower we rode heading west. We finished with the 10 miles south towards Wichita, once again with the wind at our backs. We probably averaged 16 MPH, with a few stops for water and gel. All told, we went 32 miles and had a great time. It was an excellent day to be outside.

And so much better than being stuck on a trainer or spinning bike!