The Weekend of Wind.

Both Saturday and Sunday were damn windy.  Sometimes I don't mind the wind and other times it beats me down.  I experienced both this weekend.
Saturday I hung out with the family in the morning, giving me a later start time.  You know, enough time for the wind to get fully up to speed!  The wind was mostly out of the east, changing a bit to the SE later in the day.  I straddled the Cutthroat and headed east.  But instead of going south at times, I went north.  South has less gravel, it's more populated, and north has some pretty sweet roads north of Milaca, east of 169. Benton County gravel is probably my least favorite to ride, especially since it's been so dry.  Combine the wind and soft gravel and I wasn't moving very fast.  When it came time to make my way south I was still battling a slight headwind. Even though I knew this would be the case this hit me mentally.  Toss in a sore left knee and I still wasn't moving very fast!

Pease, MN.  I stopped and adjusted my left cleat.

Eventually I did get my tailwind and my spirits lifted.  On long rides it's not all roses.  Part of the experience is getting over the low times.

The ride.

I spent the remainder of the day mowing and watering our plants.  It's been weeks since we have had any rain.

Sunday I got a much earlier start to hopefully miss some of the wind.  While it wasn't as windy as it would get it was still in the double digits out of the SE. This time I was on the Moots making my way for the Dirt Bag.  I only rode Huber before deviating from the course.  I met up with parts of it later on.  I kept on a SE path most of the ride.  I hit the Luce Line Trail in Watertown.  I took that east a bit not too long and headed south.  I eventually hit the Dakota Rail Trail at St. Bonifacious. Here I turned west, starting my way home.  That was a busy trail!  Once I found a decent gravel road that didn't dead end I got off.

Despite being windier than Saturday the wind didn't seem to affect me much this time.  I'm always perplexed on that.  I stumbled upon some roads I'm sure I've been on, just not in succession. I now have a route to, or from, Howard Lake that avoids County Road 6. 

The ride.

The rest of the day was spent getting groceries, watering, making dinner, and a family walk.  Not a bad weekend.

The wind appears to continue most of this week, out of the south.  Bringing with it warmer temps.  Here come the 90's!