iRide.2020.02.19 Gusts of a persistent nature

I remember a story, told by the redoubtable Scottish walker Hamish Brown, about being pinned down in the lee of an overhanging boulder for most of the day when a deluge prevented him from being out in the open. He had a tiny radio with him, on which the BBC weather forecast advised that there were to be '…showers of a persistent nature'.

My route consists of three legs: out to Sand Hollow Top; across to Sky Ramch; home via the Hurricane Fields. The winds on the first two legs were mostly steady and mostly cross-tail or cross-head. That made for pleasant riding and it was not cold, nor was the wind chill a factor.

As I departed my second turnaround to head for home the wind picked up and shifted into full head-wind. The weather report from the Klimat app ("Your activity's weather at-a-glance in your Strava feed, on your device. Automatically.") recorded 13mph (20.9kph) winds with 21mph (33.8kph) gusts, but I think may have been gusts of a persistent nature.

I made my only photo-stop of the day halfway across the Fields. A hawk confirmed my suspicions: that master of aeronautics was struggling to maintain a stationary perch in the tree. I turned 180° and took a photo of the crop that is already beginning to grow. The sunshine makes it look like a gentle spring day, but two other photos taken looking further along the Fault line were blurred because I was being buffeted by the wind.

I had donned a wind shirt at my turnaround, which dealt with the windchill, but it was a long, slow ride home. Just another day at the office, as Lance Armstrong used to say.

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