WIND and more wind

Bicycle: 45 km 
Riding time:  2:57 h
Total ascent: 128 m
Avg speed:  15.1 km/h
Max speed:  29.5 km/h
Route: Leiden - Boskop - Alphen - Leiden
Weather: Very, very windy, and some rain at the very end, 8 C

After a long time not riding, today finally back on the bicycle. Riding out of Leiden was very nice, everything was so easy, just riding along... My initial plan was to ride to Alphen and catch there one of the LF routes and just follow that for a bit. However I hadn't realized why it was so nice and easy to ride out of Leiden: the WIND!

I realized this the moment I left the way from Leiden to Alphen and turned South, what a wind. Although it was mainly sideways, it was still extremely strong. So I decided to go to LF route #4 which seemed to run more in a West - East direction, i.e. with the wind. And I did make it to LF4 (close to Boskoop), but then looked at my weather app and saw that the rain was going to come. So I needed a return plan. Thus I turned back to Alphen with the idea to catch there the train. When I arrived at the train station the train to Leiden was just about to leave the next going to come in 30 min. Between that wait, and anyway, I was out there to ride my bicycle, not a train, I decided to ride back. 

Riding through Alphen city was okay, but once outside and along the Rhine, the wind hit strong and now straight on. Sometimes it was so strong that I needed to switch to the lowest gear and it was still feeling like climbing a mountain (well, a small mountain but still). At one point a sideway gust even nearly made me fall of the bicycle. I was just in time to get my feet down on the ground. But well, on I went. The wind was so strong that the Rhine had real waves on it, like the sea. 

Arriving in Leiden also rain started. Not for very long, but I got my raingear on (at least the jacket). 

At home the hot shower was extremly welcome, and my legs definitely know what they have done today. Although it was "only" 45 km, at least half of them need to count at least twice with all the effort that went into them.