Gale force Tuesday Pleasant Green Castle

Nice early departure from work to beat the traffic and make my TFC meeting 7.30 deadline, Nelson collected me from outside work not long after 4.30 and we got across town and up to Upper Major Hornbrook around 5.  Looked at my watch part way up John Britten Reserve and it was 5.15, I was wheezing and Nelson was gaining ground on me, but it wasn't long and the top was got and around into the blustery nor'wester we treadled.  Off-pushing to say the least, whenever we were on a crest facing the wind, which was most of the ride, we were in it's powerful grip, being pushed and bolshed and steered awry.  Around Britten and onto the road, fast descent then up the Cavendish zig-zags, with a fucking fence and gate smacked in the middle of them... That's going to kill the buzz on the descent, not that anyone probably does that now that the road's open.  Visibility decreasing.   My gears were playing up, throughout the ride, with anything in the middle range being self-shifty, never quite able to stay in the gear I wanted...but seemingly okay in low gears or high.  Over the top, and lights on.  I led down the walking track steps and steeps and the wind pushed us about and we got lower down the ridge.  The odd dab due to windage.  Snack break at the top of Bridle Path, and then up the road, nearly blown to standstills on the final approach to the top.

Into Castle, wind behind once or twice, but mostly beside and pushing.  Nelson was forced off the track a few times due to the bladed spokes.  I had trouble, but otherwise a pretty good run.  The climb was wind-assisted making my gear trouble less of an issue.  Onto the road and around, side wind, head wind, tail wind, mega headwind under the gondola, then no wind, then extreme tail wind pushing us up through the gate and through the cattle stop onto the singletrack.  Granny climb, with buffetting and then around the corner and pussssshhhhheddd up the corners to the top.  And pusshheed up through the gate and the towers on Mt Pleasant howling.  6.15 here.  Plenty of time.

I led the way down, on account of Nelson being pushed around so much with his lightweight bike and lightweight body, and the bladed spokes of course.  Me; heavy bike, heavy bones and good-living weight allowing gravity to do it's thing against the pissant gale.  Good run down through the tussocks and then around and fighting the wind down to Greenwood.  Into this and pushed about a fair bit with, again, tail winds, side winds and head winds, seemingly coming from all directions as we descended.  Sometimes Nelson would be on my tail, sometimes not.  Mostly good run down and no stops, just blazing.  Down through the fence and a hundred biker lights riding up the Captain below us.  Massive long string of them.  Bombed it on down and onto the road.  Hit the climb, I managed to get a gear I liked that didn't shift itself out of itself and just ground that up the hill. Nelson sometimes dropped me but then would slow up a bit and let me catch up and then drop me again.  Only one vehicle passed us going up.  Seemed to take a while, wind not too affecting on most of the climb and then we hit Britten and bombed on down, getting to the car at 7.

Thai Talay, Pahd Thai for me, Red Curry for him, and off to TFC to scoff it down all in time for the 7.30 meeting.  Perfect.