What It Takes

It would have been insane to ride in yesterday's weather.

This is what it took to get out on this freezing wind-swept day.

Thermal fleece shirt, hoodie, scarf, windbreaker, balaclava, beanie, heavy fleece pants, wool socks and ski gloves with liners. Some people might call that insane. 

What made the ride reasonably enjoyable was scaling down the miles, bright sunshine and appropriate dress.

Ice patch

Why I ride

More ice

Rule #12

The correct number of bikes to own is N+1 (number of bikes = N + one new one). The minimum being three. Nice if you can do it but the grass is not always greener. I first have to decide which bike to ride. If I haven't ridden that bike for a while my legs are sore. Each bike has a different seating style using different muscles. Alternating bikes puts my muscles in a state of flux. I have to re-acclimate them. When it's been awhile, the first few miles are, What did I see in this bike? Then it's, That's what I'm talkin about.  The longer I stay with one bike the stronger, faster and easier it is to pedal. I can concentrate on the ride not the bike which is what it's all about. Don't get me wrong I am fortunate to own some high-end bikes but it was a lot easier when I had one bike at a time. Sometimes I want to sell off some of the herd but I go, No I need that for...  Then I start drooling over a new trike out and thinking, Wouldn't it be great to have. It starts to get insanely complicated. The simple fact is, it doesn't matter what I ride as long as I ride.

Cold and Windy

I'm not complaining, well maybe a little, but, today's ride was cold and windy. It started sunny but soon deteriorated. Patchy blue skies gave way to dark clouds and whipping winds from the north at more than 20 mph. There was even light rain for a few miles. I was prepared with my wool cap and earmuffs, winter gloves and adequate layering. For my own sanity and trying to keep Winter Fur at bay, I managed just under 40 miles. I even went a few extra miles to the store. As tough as it might get it's always better than not riding.

Only Mid Fall

It's still hectic around here and with less daylight getting cycling time can be quite the challenge. It's only mid Fall and I notice some Winter fur. I got home early today and the weather was perfect. Low 60's, sunshine and winds under 10 mph. Getting out for a ride after noon was not something I'm use to but I had to take advantage of what might be one of the last great days of the year. I decided on the trike but a few miles into the ride my legs let me know I had muscles not used in awhile. I managed 30 miles and realized, I got to get out more.
KEEP RIDING!!!

6K

I just hit an incredible 6k miles for the year.  Best ever!  I am quite pleased with myself, but, more importantly, I'm having fun. Would love to have more Autumn days like today. Temps reaching 70, sun, little wind and colors at their peak. The rest of the year is all down hill from here.

Got My Fix

You can see by the lack of posts that not much is happening on the cycling campaign trail. I have been inundated with work, both on the job and home, leaving little time for biking.  I promised I would not get obsessed but I found myself "Jonesing". I finally had a hole in my schedule and looked forward to today's ride. The weather called for a drastic drop in temperature and light rain. Not exactly the ideal day for riding. Forecasts being as they may I hoped for the best.  I stepped out early to check the environment. No rain and not as cold as I feared.  To be safe I took the ICE T for it's weather protection.  2 miles out, was that a drop I felt? Yep!  It didn't look that threatening so I kept going. A few more miles and things got a bit more steady. I wasn't feeling the love so I opted for a short cut back.  Fortunately, the God's were smiling and the rain stopped. No sun and still quite chilly but I managed to get my fix with 21 miles.

The last 3 gloomy days are thankfully over. Today low 60's, more clouds than sun and windy. The first half of the ride was relaxed with winds at my back. I was even able to remove my jacket after a few miles.  I was concerned with the second half heading into the wind, but, the aerodynamics of the ICE T fairing, a dry day and just being out riding, made that a non issue. There were a lot of cyclists enjoying today, but non, more than me.