Burrrrrrrrrrr...........

We all have the flu now. It finally hit Amy hard today, which of course, means no Thanksgiving feast. Still feeling like crap, I went out for a ride today anyway.

The weather was cold and really windy. Having the chills all week didn't help me none. I decided on an "easy" ride. "Easy" meaning small ring (42). Yet, I rode Hillsboro/Valley Park Rd to High Ridge. The route I took from the house was 10 miles to the Phillips 66 Station in High Ridge. Very little flat, lots of climbing. Being already weakened, I knew the ride back would be a killer. My plan was to do the ride as an out and back. Conviently, that would have been 20 miles, with lots of hills. Good route from the house!!! But, I want the flu to be done with and took the easy way home, which had me on Rte 30 from High Ridge to Sugar Creek Rd. I like riding on 30. Yes, cars are doing 70mph, but the shoulder is huge and puts you 10 feet away from the cars and there is a nasty rumble strip between the road and shoulder, so you'd know if someone was near you. Good pavement and from High Ridge to Fenton is mostly down a long false flat hill, and you can go darn fast.

High Ridge. Why is it called that? Because, no joke, it's the highest elevation in Jefferson County. So, I turn on 30, which is open, no trees, got into a comfort zone and WHAM! I almost got knocked off my bike by a wicked gust of wind. I had to fight this type of sudden wind until the first elevation drop. I can't imagine riding this section of road with aero wheels today. Thankfully, I'm retro and have 'box' rims. It was windy the whole time on 30. This cooled me off and I was actually looking forward to the next hill climb to warm me up again!!! It sort of did. On the hill after that, I realized I was spent and made a good decision to not do the out and back. I may still be out there now.

Overall, it was only about 18 miles, but considering my battle back from the flu and the battle against the wind, the mid forties temperature and the windchill in the mid thirties, not to mention a bunch of hills, it was a pretty good ride. I just hope I didn't weaken myself more overall and that this friggin' flu goes away once and for all.

At least it wasn't THIS cold...