I haven't biked much lately. I have some lame excuses, like a new job and winter arriving. Lame. So with my wife out of town (presumably having a lot of fun with a few friends shopping in Minneapolis), blustery winds, temps around 20, and snow that hasn't been completely cleaned off the roads since Wednesday (*), conditions were perfect for a ride.
After a quick breakfast and some hydration, I dug out my cold-weather gear. This is my original post-college cold-weather biking gear, illustrating my contentment with things that work, my general lack of interest in shopping, and why you try to keep me away from anyone you want to impress. My base layer is a Carhartt thermal undershirt and some off-brand thermal long underwear. I also wore some smartwool socks. Sensible so far?
On the bottom, I then add some thick gym shorts. I discovered serendipitously that they do a great job of insulating sensitive areas that would otherwise suffer from the funnel effect created by my torso and thighs. Plus they're nice padding. Over the gym shorts go my sweet teal sweatpants.
The top gets layered up with a purple long-sleeved t-shirt. I put an orange t-shirt over that for visibility. And let's be honest, that color combination just makes me look good. To keep my head warm, I use a stocking cap. Because I've never gotten around to buying a balaclava, I also wear a purple turtle-fur (synthetic fleece) neck and face warmer.
My fashion sense is amazing enough to make women faint and strong men weep.
The sensible way to ride a loop on a blustery day is to ride into the wind first. Fight the wind while you're fresh; let it help you after it starts to wear you down. Unfortunately, the roads and river aren't quite arranged nicely enough for that to work out today. So I started off at a nice clip with the wind at my back.
It didn't take too long to settle into riding on the mostly-packed snow. Once I remembered how to handle the mushy wheel-pushing sections, I was doing well. It also didn't take long to remember that the front brake needed to be used sparingly.
About four miles into the ride, I slowed down for the stop sign on Park Place at Rockwell Drive. "It's a bit icy here, so take it easy on the brakes," I thought, "especially the front. No, easy on the front!" Just as I started easing up on the front brake, the wheel started to slide. Fortunately, I got my foot down enough to ease into the fall, and gloves plus ice plus cold-weather clothes made for a barely-perceptible impact.
I hopped right back up, got back on the bike, and within a half mile, turned onto Cimmie Ave and into the wind. It was slow going. My speed dropped from 17-20 to about 13. I turned right onto Council Street. The first hundred yards weren't bad. The right lane in front of the post office was virtually unused, so my mountain bike tires grabbed nicely. But just past the post office, the road drops to two lanes. My plan was to turn onto Northbrook and head into Hiawatha. I looked back, saw a car, judged the distance to Northbrook, took a deep breath, and moved into the car tracks. Twenty seconds (or so) of hammering up to 20mph, I made my turn, just before the car caught up. I don't mind sharing the road, but I don't like being an inconvenience.
The ride along Northbrook through Hiawatha on Emmons St was an uneventful ride into a headwind. It was toward the end of Emmons St that my toes started to get cold. Luckily, I was only 15 minutes or so from home, and it was crosswind or tailwind almost the entire way.
As I passed Aegon, I did a quick check on warmth. My hands (under normal winter non-biking gloves) were almost too warm--starting to sweat after turning away from the headwind. Head-to-waist I was just fine. My legs, especially in the knee and inner-thigh-below-gym-shorts areas were cool, but not cold. Not bad. My water bottle was mostly frozen, but there's not much to do about that.
When I got home, I discovered that my toes were damp. They must have sweated or something (maybe snow melted in after I fell?). Then riding into the headwind cooled the sweat off. Either I should ride with something besides old tennis shoes on my feet, or figure out a better wind-guard.
Before I forget, even though you'll probably never read this--to the person (dude/dudette status unknown) in the Jeep (or Jeep-like vehicle) that gave a cyclist plenty of room on 42nd St near Aegon: thanks! I appreciate it.
I missed my bike. Getting back on was fun. I'm going to have to start biking to work again, and avoiding the lame excuses.
Important stats:
11.45 miles in 48:58
Winds 20-25 ENE, gusts to about 35, 20 degrees Fahrenheit
No roadkill
1 fall, no damage to self or bike
1 nice Jeep-ist
(*) After last winter, I can understand the city taking snow removal and salting/sanding easy. And in all fairness, there was a nice icy glaze Wednesday that would be tough to remove.
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