Just call me crazy! I preregistered for the Gator Ride gambling on the weather being nice. I lost the gamble. When I got to Lee College in Baytown at 7:45 AM I checked the weather on my phone. The Weather Channel app showed 39 deg. with a 17 mph NNW wind making the wind chill 31 deg. At that point I thought I would go collect my T-shirt, sit in the Jeep for a while and then drive home. But I walked over to the starting area to pickup my number and other stuff and I saw a number of people milling around for the 43 mile start at 8:30. Looking at how some of them were dressed I said to myself if they can dress like that and ride why can’t I ride with my wardrobe of leg warmers, shorts, 3 long sleeve jerseys, windbreaker jacket and full finger gloves?

This photo gallery is from the start line area before I went back to the Jeep.

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So I walked back to my Jeep and waited until 8:15 to see if the temperature would go up any and the wind go down any. I watched the people in the parking lot get ready. The lady to right of me took off her jacket and put on the Gator Ride T-shirt over the other shirts she had on and then put her jacket back on. The Chevrolet Volt to my left had two riders who were dressed a lot lighter than I was and they rode off the to the start line about 8:05. I checked my phone again and the temperature moved up to 40 but the wind was still at 17 mph. I decided I would try to ride and got my bike out of the Jeep and rode to the start line. Just as I arrived the ride officials were saying a few words and then told the riders to start. It didn’t take long to realize the wind chill was going to be brutal as we headed to the Fred Hartman Bridge. As I approached the bridge the wind was cutting through my clothes and especially my gloves. Riding around my route at home yesterday was no match for riding up the bridge and being exposed to the full affect on top of a bridge. After we got off the bridge the route turned to the north and the wind was challenging forward progress.

One of my concerns was the wait for the Lynchburg ferry. With this brutal wind all I needed to do was stand around for half an hour, cooling down and then start riding again. Well the 43 mile riders started an hour later than the 62 mile riders so by the time we got to the ferry the crowd was gone. The wait lasted about 10 minutes while the ferry returned from the other side. Once we got the north side ferry landing the wind seemed to intensify. I knew the route turned east in Highlands which was not too far away but the slow pedaling took a while to get to that turn.

Turning right onto Battlebell Road in Highlands brought a sigh of relief as the wind now came from my left. I finally was able to ride faster and with the sun now hitting my front side some I thawed a little. Now the route would generally go east and then south so the wind would be somewhat of an ally until about 3 miles to go in Baytown. I stopped at rest stop 2 and rest stop 4 to get some rest from the wind but I could stop too long for fear of cooling down  too much. After rest stop 4 I did not stop again until the end. I reached the finish line at 11:56 and it was none too soon! I sat on a curb to eat my Firehouse Sub, chips, cookies and Diet Coke. The wind did not let up even then.

After eating I rode back to the Jeep, loaded up my bike and got our of my wet jerseys. I drove back to the starting area to change into dry shorts for the drive back home.

Overall I am amazed that I decided to ride with the temperature so low and the wind so high. Normally I do not ride when it is below 60 but the crowd (probably 100 or so) at the start line provided an incentive to ride. May next year it will be 40 degrees higher.

Links to Garmin Connect and RideWithGPS.com.

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