Oh that sucked.

Ok I wanted to guage my fitness.
A couple of weeks ago I got out on the road and did 40 miles.
I didn't like the way it ended up.
I really felt like shit afterwards and it was a bitch trying to make it the last 8 miles home.
A friend of mine has been bugging me to get out on the road but before I got out there and make a fool outta myself I had better find out how I stood.
Last thing I wanted to do was go out on a group ride and bonk at 35 miles.

Soooo....
Saturday I hit the road from my front door.
I wanted to get anywhere between 60 and 80 miles in. I'd play it by ear and turn around when I thought I should. But of course I'm not that smart. I usually turn around when its too late.

So south on Rt.5 through beautiful St. Marys county.
I notice a few miles in my avg is higher than normal.
I'm hitting 18-20 on the flats with no problem.
I start staring at the leaves on trees and sure enough I've got a tailwind.
Normally this is good but I worry about the return trip. I can only hope that the weather changes by the time I get to my turn around.
35 miles in and I'm feeling great. I begin to wonder if my speedometer is off. I use the same one and switch between my MTB and road bike.
Am I using the MTB settings?
2 miles later I get a flat and the day just turned to shit from there.
I fixed it with no problem but the fatigue just seemed to set in.

I finally made it to my half way point and turned to head home.
JESUS H. CHRIST!!
The wind smacks me dead in the face and my speed drops.
I'm fighting to keep 14 mph. On inclines that drops to 11 and evan on descents the wind is making sure I can't get above 18.
I'm fighting my way into the wind on the most boring road in So. Md. The only mental incentive I can give myself it to the Snickers and Gatorade I plan on getting at the nearest store thats 15 miles away.

In a nutshell, I make it home with a ride time of 4:59:30 and an evan 80 miles on the nose.
So I still averaged 16mph.
I'm still trying to figure if the wind helped overall or killed my average.