Biking - "We're not in Kansas anymore..."

But it sure felt like it:

     ...WIND ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 6 PM EDT THIS EVENING...

     * LOCATIONS...GREATER CAPITAL REGION AND THE LAKE GEORGE
       SARATOGA REGION.

     * HAZARDS...STRONG SOUTHERLY WINDS.

     * WINDS...SOUTH 20 TO 25 MPH WITH GUSTS UP TO 50 MPH.

There are two ways to ride on a windy day.  You can either fight it, cursing all the way, or you can relax, accept it, even embrace it, and just enjoy the ride.  After several days of unseasonable cold and wind, today was forecast to be sunny and in the upper 50s, but with the unfortunate addition of the above wind advisory.  Now I've cursed the wind as much as anybody when out on the bike, not the last time of which was as I crossed the aforementioned Kansas 3 years (?!?) ago now.  But spring has been late in coming this year, and I just couldn't waste a day like this.

I decided to ride the same 16-mile loop I've been riding so far this year, not adding anything, and letting the wind make it a more difficult outing all by itself.  The first 6.5 miles, to the southeasterly point on the map below, was almost dead on into a headwind, with swirling gusts from a variety of directions.  But I wasn't allowed to whine about it, since I'd known what to expect when I decided to ride today.  I just spun the pedals in a lower gear, and enjoyed finally being out there again on an otherwise pleasant day.

Once I turned that corner, and I headed back the other way, things improved immensely, and for all the rest of the way back home.  I even spent some rare time (for me) in the big ring, cranking at 18-20mph with a nice tailwind. 

I was glad I hadn't just sat home cursing the wind.