Last night I was packing my bag for a long ride. Preparing for such a ride can seem like getting ready for a trek across the Australian outback: Camel-Bak; electrolyte drink; ride food.

I remember a game we used to play sometimes when I was a kid. \”I pack my bag with something to eat, and in it I put a ___.\” Each person in succession took whatever letter of the alphabet came next (starting, of course, with \”A\”). And was supposed to repeat all the things that had gone into the bag before his/her turn came. Packing my bag, i.e. my Camel-Bak, with something matching each letter of the alphabet would make it far too heavy! Avocado, banana, cabbage, dates…

Today I did a ride of 38.40 miles. On the way back, the headwind drove me crazy. According to the forecast, the wind was from the NE to ENE; and from 7 am strengthened from 7 mph to 12 mph. I averaged a plodding 11.82 mph.

Such incidents make me wonder whether I\’m really getting any stronger. I pulled out a cycling journal from 2015, and browsed through it a bit. I found a Sunday ride in March of that year. The forecast for that day: wind E 10-15 mph. My average speed, 11.6 mph.

So it seemed like I\’m not improving any too much. Then I saw that on that March day I rode little over 10 miles. Battling a 10-12 mph headwind for over 19 miles is much different from riding in a similar wind for what was probably a round trip, with a tailwind for half the distance!