Ride around St. Joe County

Decent ride on Saturday. Was threatening rain all week in the forecast up into the previous night. I started out in full tights and long sleeve layers, but after just putting my bike together and preparing for the ride, I realized I was way over-dressed. It was humid and I could tell it was going to get hot. I changed into my shorts and jersey with compression under layer and was out and on the road in minutes. Only got lost once and had to ride down a half-muddy dirt road for a couple of miles to get back on track. It was actually probably the best dirt road I could have ridden out of all the dirt roads I've ever seen - packed down well and almost absent of washboard. Bike only slid out 3 times or so. About a mile down the road I spotted some Amish and their work-horse tied up to a yard cart of sorts with a kid in it. Rather than spook another horse (you might recall the Amish buggy incident last year) I got off the bike and walked about .15 miles and approached slowly. Had a nice chat with the Amish dad with kids staring at me and my bike the entire time. Turns out the horse is one of the family's most skittish ones and before leaving, the dad was sure to thank me for being thoughtful enough to trek past carefully. The rest of the ride was full of swearing and grit-teethed anger for I rode into a 15-18mph wind for the next hour or so in both the West direction, then South, which then turned into a cross-wind. Terr'ble. Riding down on the drops is a HUGE aero advantage, I had no idea. Just hard to breathe down there, with my knees/quads almost up into my chest. It's terror on the arms too. Nearing my parents house, I maxed out at 37 mph downhill. I still am waiting for the right time and road conditions to break 40 mph. There was still too much of a cross-wind for me to try this time. This ride proved to me that I am ready to take on 40-60 miles rides as regular workouts now.