On 2012-08-10, Zebee Johnstone (aka Bruce)
was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea:
I think it was a bit windy today. About 2 gear's worth I think, as I
was 2 gears lower on the Brom every time I was heading east.

Except for one point where I had the interesting experience of being
stationary!

Slightly up hill, a massive gust right in my face and the bike
stopped! No idea how I managed to stay upright I'll admit but I am
sure the wheels had stopped turning or near enough.

Didn't help that it was raining. And cold. And that most of the trip
home is in an easterly direction.

Not one of my more enjoyable times on a bicycle.

Ah well that's what I get for moving to the far less aerodynamic dark
side.

I once rode with a touring group on a loop that was meant to be 150km
around. Heading West out of Melbourne, we rode in a 2 wide formation,
and were going full pelt at 10km/h. At one stage, the 2 front riders
stopped, and the rest of us were slightly protected from the gust so
nearly formed a mass pile up.

We stopped at a small town and realised one of our party was suffering
hypothermia. We set her up with soup and called her family, and
continued on, cutting off about 50km from the planned loop. Then we
headed back into Melbourne along a 80km/h dual carriageway, barely
being overtaken by the cars. Zipping along at 70km/h on the flat sure
was exhilarating after the trials of that morning.

One of the rare rides I've done where the headwind turns to a tailwind
after turning around 180degrees, rather than magically turning back
into a headwind as is per usual (what happens when 2 cyclists ride in
opposite directions? Does God blow up in a massive cataclysmic
explosion of paradoxicality?)


I got a new bike and I like riding through the mud with it, so today's
crap weather didn't faze me.

--
TimC
All theoretical chemistry is really physics; and all theoretical
chemists know it. -- Richard P. Feynman