April 24 Recap

Number of riders: 46
Start Temp: 11C
Finish Temp: 15C
Wind: NW 20 Gusting to 35

Seemed like a much bigger group than last week, but in fact just a few more. Fantastic turnouts on both weekends. It definitely felt quite a bit cooler with the wind and overcast sky. Speaking of the wind, it was more vigorous than predicted. Turns at the front were short with the strong headwind on the way north towards Lockport. Once we hit River Road, it was difficult to keep the pace below 35 kph with the strong following wind. In Lockport we split into fast and normal groups. With the race on Sunday, I turned around at Selkirk with 9 others and we had an easy ride back. Most of the group planned to do BHP. Should have been a nice easy ride with the trailing wind most of the way.

It seems likely, especially on non-race weekends, that we will split into two, maybe even three, groups in Lockport a lot of the time before we proceed to Selkirk. It's not just a matter of ability and giving everyone the opportunity to ride at their level, it's also a safety issue. On the way back south, if groups are small, there will be a re-group at Lockport (Hwy 44), but with two large groups it is likely they will proceed as separate groups to BHP rather than re-grouping.

The ideal dress for the day was vest, jersey, shorts, maybe thin sleeveless base layer, knee warmers and arm warmers.