Caught in the Crosswind

Today, I cheated.

I knew that this day would come, when the Forces that Be would look down on me and say "Girl, you stupid or something? Get off the bike". It's a lucky thing I heard this advice at all, over the howling wind.

I'd been hearing about the infamous Wyoming wind for almost a week now, without understanding what folks meant. I figured it's either a tail-wind or a head-wind: the former being awesome, and the latter being annoying, but neither one being deadly.

Well, today I encountered a cross -wind for the first time, and I believe I'm lucky to be alive. The 40mph winds were pushing me off into the loose gravel, and it took all my strength to keep the handle bars pointed in the right direction. There was incredibly heavy truck traffic, and when they whizzed by I'd get caught in the slip steam and thrown towards the side of the truck with terrifying force. I careened back and forth across the crumbling shoulder, buffeted by the wind and the slip streams to the point where I felt like a windsock out there on the highway, with no ability to direct myself.

There was a point when I couldn't take it anymore, and, shaking, I dismounted. It was hard even to walk the bike, as the wind shoved the frame back and forth. I walked over a mile, sure that if I just kept moving I'd escape the wind eventually. I knew it was only 18 more miles to Rawlins, but when I looked ahead and saw the long, unrelenting stretch of exposed highway, I turned to face the oncoming traffic and stuck out my thumb.

I was picked up within minutes by a sweet man from Montana, and the chat we had in the car helped to calm my frazzled nerves.