TNR...finally!

It was high time we started TNR (Tuesday Night Rides).  In past years we'd have had a few weeks in already but the weather has made that difficult.  Yesterday was no weather picnic either: cloudy, maybe pushing 40, and oh so windy.
The first couple rides we take gravel/cx bikes as the roads are still a mess and some gravel may be found.  My Evergreen is in the process of getting new brakes so I ended up riding the Cutthroat. It faired much better than I thought it would.  The chainring is a 38 tooth, not giving me much for high end speed.  But it was just fine.  The Sparwood 2.2 tires provided a bit extra resistance but they are good rolling tires.
Four of us (Charlie, Alex, Corey, and myself) pushed off at 5:30.  Early on I realized it was much windier than I thought.  Getting out to the 4 Whores and then the Alp  (local hills) was a grind.  It's been a long time since I put in efforts that hard.  While it hurts it felt good.  We took some gravel roads around and up the Alp.  They were rather sloppy and soft!

Because of daylight we are limited in time and distance but for the first TNR we did just fine: 40 miles in 2 hours 13 minutes.  Monday night I got out as well: 36 miles in about the same time.  I'm on kid duty tonight (pick ups, drop offs, and dinner) so riding is out.  Thursday is a go once again but the rest of the week here is looking miserable.  Forecasts are all over but it will be windy (gusts up to 40mph) and wet (either rain, snow, or both).  Some forecasts say we could almost get 20"+ Friday through Sunday.  Ugh.
Just gotta roll with it at this point.