First ride of the year. It was cold. Not as much as the previous ride. Winds from the South East. Temperature in the low 40's. I wore the standard winter kit. I felt pretty good out the door. But, that was also aided with a tailwind. I despise these kind of conditions when doing this route. I was planning on doing the full ride, but decided against it as soon as I realized the winds were not in my favor. It didn't take me much time to get warmed up. By the time I reached half way through OTR, I was ready to rock. I was able to hold a good tempo going up Banducci. A slight dig over the wall (I had some cars behind me, an added incentive). I made it to the summit in good average time under these conditions (tailwind uphill). I took a minute breather at the summit and commenced the downhill. Fortunately, the wind wasn't turbulent, so it was safe to open the throttle. I think I reached 45 on the downhill. Fun and games. When I reached Pelisser, I put my head down and did the usual grind through the farmlands. I could hardly hold 13 MPH in the crosswinds and 10 MPH in the headwinds. It really was that bad. I knew I was going to experience a reprieve when I made my way to the last climb. I was right in assuming so. I was sheltered for the most part. Still a headwind, but not as severe. After reaching the summit, I took it easy for the first few hundred yards, then picked up the pace slightly. The wind was in my face once again. After reaching route 202, I waited for some cars to pass. This gave me about 1 minute of recovery time. After the traffic cleared, I commenced the 1/4 mile trek to OTR. I ended up pulling over at least once to let traffic by. I'll be doing more of that on similar rides (given the same wind conditions). After reaching OTR, the downhill was mostly fun and games and I was able to fully recover. I made one last dig over Mariposa. From there, it was mostly cruise control. My concentration was spot on for the most part. There were some heckling gremlins out there, especially in the headwinds. Real nasty at times. I kept telling myself to stay focused and not to get discouraged. Balance and form was good for the most part, considering the wind conditions, I was leaning to the right from the severe crosswinds, so balance was hard to gauge. Ailments consisted of mild lower back soreness. Not enough to affect my tempo. Gear is working great. No issues there. Other notes, nobody out there today. Just one guy on a moped, this doesn't count!