Oh My Goodness

I believe that the wind was blowing approximately 527 miles per hours (848.124 kilometers per hour) this morning. I grant you that I didn’t actually measure the wind speed, having carelessly left my anemometer at home, but I estimated the wind speed based on how hard the ride was.

I decided to go exploring this morning and to find a particular school. (There was no reason for this decision other than to give my ride a turnaround point.) I had only been to this school once, and that was in the 2000 pound beast and by a different route, but I was confident of my ability to find my way there on my own.

My confidence was entirely misplaced.

I never did find the school, but I did find the airport, and I had long wondered where that was, so I suppose that counts for something. (I shall claim it as a victory.) My first clue that I was on my way to the airport was when I found myself on Airport Road. This was eventually followed by a sign pointing the way to the airport, and that was followed by the realization that the airport isn’t actually on Airport Road. Silly me to have expected such a thing.

I discovered a variety of interesting signs, though. I saw a sign that was about two stories tall and had a very nice spiral staircase leading up to it. It turned out to be a sign for a metal fabrication company. This same company had three driveways, each one labeled by a very stylish sign decorated with the company’s logo and name. Two of them then had the words “no entrance” while the third said “entrance.” What struck me about these lovely signs is that the three driveways were only about five feet apart and all led to the same tiny parking lot. It seemed like a bit of overkill. I also saw lots and lots of signs for people who didn’t want other people trespassing on their property. These signs seem to be quite popular.

I saw a sign for a subdivision where there was nothing but trees and grass. (Near my home is a sign for a subdivision, and they actually had laid out roads and put in streetlights. There are no houses there, but the roads and the sign have been there for five years. It's a bit ghostly, somehow.) The sign I saw today was apparently not even for a phantom subdivision, because there was nothing there but wilderness, and the sign is quite weathered. Perhaps it's a sign of sheer optimism.

At one point two dogs came out into the road after me while I was riding uphill into a headwind. (It really felt like most of the ride was into a headwind.) Nice, eh? Fortunately for me, these were tiny little dogs with tiny little legs whose top speed was apparently about five miles per hour, and I even I can beat that.

On the whole, the ride was dominated by two things: the smell of manure (I was riding past a lot of farmland – always a plus when you’re pushing yourself hard and trying to suck down a lot of air) and the wind. By the time I was done, my legs were toast, but it was a nice long ride, and I’m ready for more. Well, I'm not ready for more just yet, but I will be soon.

How about tomorrow?

See you on the road.