Harden the Fuck Up, Bitch

I needed to do a 4-hour and a 2-hour ride this weekend. As the week progressed, the weekend weather forecast got worse and worse, but by Thursday, it appeared Saturday would be the better day for the longer ride.

A friend of mine, Fred (pictured above with his amazing generic bike), agreed to ride with me starting at my house and to Fermilab, around a few times and back. Initially, we thought we'd get 3 loops in.

When I got up this morning, it was only 38 and now the weather forecast was calling for a high of only 55, but not until afternoon. Of course this meant I went through several iterations of cycling wear choices, but what I ultimately decided on worked out perfectly.

I decided I'd ride Bitch today so I could carry 2 mixed bottles of Infinit plus a third bottle of water. This would be my first ride on her this year! I made 1/2 caffeinated, 1/2 regular, since I didn't think I'd need pure caffeine today. I was so happy I found "fun size" PayDay candy bars yesterday, and I stashed two of them in my jacket. You can see all the crap I was using/wearing except for the bottles in the first photo. The other photos are taken after we finished riding, which is why we both look a little peaked.

I told Fred to be at my house at 7:30AM, and we actually chatted on Yahoo early this morning, and I found out where he lives, and at first I thought it was like 4 miles from my house, but turns out it's 6. He rode to my house, and upon arrival, he commented on how hard the wind was blowing. I hadn't paid attention to this on WeatherBug--I just knew it was chilly.

Well, the winds were WNW when we started, and as we headed straight west, it was obvious it was going to be slow going. I'm guessing the winds were 25-30MPH most of the time, and then there were some nice crosswind gusts that just made me laugh.

It was great getting to Fermilab, because at least we would get occasional breaks from the wind while circling around. Looking at my Ergomo, I saw it took us 1:10 to go 15 miles, so I started thinking maybe 2 loops would be enough today. And I also hoped the winds stayed the same direction, which would mean a tasty tailwind on the way back.

Fred hadn't been all the way around Fermilab before, so I had to show him all the cool stuff, and I think he enjoyed the fact that there is no traffic in there and pretty nice roads. Fred's a very strong rider, and I always worry I hold guys back when I ride with them, so I hope he got a good ride in. He did ask if I needed to do my interval crap, and I said that with all the wind I'd be getting a plenty good workout.

About 20 miles in, I said to Fred, "This is a Harden the Fuck Up ride!" Neither of us complained about the wind--it was just there. After we finished up the two laps, the winds were still blowing now mostly westerly, meaning a fast trip back, and we both enjoyed the hell out of some nice stretches where we'd get up to the upper 30's in speed.

So there. My longest ride of 2008. My first ride on Bitch (and I even managed some time in the aerobars, although, ahem, my womanly parts aren't used to that position just yet), and I enjoyed the hell out of her, it was cold and windy, but most of all, it was fun to have someone else along for this ride, which could have otherwise been quite miserable! We didn't see many other cyclists at all today--maybe 6? Usually I'll see several pelotons on a weekend ride.

Since Fred said he like this video, and what the hell, so do I, here's to those of you who need to: