The weather prediction this morning before I left:

Cloudy, 30% chance of showers, light NE wind increasing to NE 20 km/h, high of +9°

And so that's what I dressed for.

The day started overcast at 0° with a light NE wind and 9 of us rolled out of the start at 7:00 am. The first 100K were into the wind which increased well above that 20 km/h prediction by about 60K into the ride. This time we did not have a fast tandem to draft (there was one tandem couple, but it was her second time on a bicycle in 2 years), so we set up a loosely organized paceline and attempted to trade off now and then. Unfortunately there weren't very many strong riders in the group and so the pulling was left to 3 of the guys . . . and frighteningly enough . . . me! By about 50K the group had straggled out, and not long after two of us took off the front. This was the first time he'd ever done anything like this before and after pulling for a little while, he handed it over to me and I pulled the last 30K to the halfway point - into that nasty wind!

The 9 of us regrouped at the Elma control, and after most of us consumed large plates of french toast (me included!), we headed out again north into an even stronger NE wind . . . but it was bright and sunny now. This time I latched onto the tandem who pulled me through that northward section - very nice! When we rounded the corner and headed west, the wind was so strong behind us that we shot up to 45 km/h for a while! Then it seemed to shift so that it was coming directly from the north and we battled a cross wind. At 130K we stopped at a little campground to visit the trees. We were only there 10 or 15 minutes, but when we came out, the wind had shifted again to be straight east! Perfect! For the next 30K, 3 of us and the tandem took off and cruised between 40 and 45 km/h with occasional peaks up over 50 km/h! It was incredible!

After a quick stop at the Beausejour control, we headed out again and hit another beautiful section of road - the smoothest we'd encountered all day, the tandem hammered and disappeared, then two of us took off and we were back to cruising between 40 and 45 km/h for a bit. The speed did dwindle down as we got closer to Lockport (185K) because we were starting to get a little tired. We stopped for a quick break in Lockport where I asked the guy I was with the time. It was 4:12, and we had 20K to go. I figured if I got moving I might just be able to match my time from last week. Just then he pulled out an energy bar and looked like he might be settling in for some food . . . and just then a couple of other riders came by and decided not to stop. I took off after them, caught them after 5K, pulled them for 5K, and then dropped them and raced to the finish.

I flew into the Robin's Donuts, dashed in, whipped out my card, and was signed in 4 minutes faster than last week!

A few minutes later I discovered that after I took off it dawned on everyone that they could make it in record time and evidently it was a race to the finish for all of us! All 9 of us set personal best times!

The actual weather:

Sunny, no rain, strong East wind (up over 40km/h), with occasional shifts to be from the north, high of +18°

And I was not dressed for that. I was so hot!