13 December 2011 - 7:14Rides in the False Sun

Just because the sun is out, doesn’t mean it’s going to be warm. At least ’round these parts anyway. What we had today was the False Sun. Sure, it looked pretty and bright, but if you were in the shade, you would be pretty darn cold. The temperature was supposedly in the very low 40s, but where I was, it was barely in the 30s. I was hoping that the blue sky and bright sun might kick the temps up a bit, but that was not the way it was going to be.

I chose to ride River Rd, just to get my first miles in for the month of December. I managed to do a fairly good job of layering this time around, but my problem areas were my feet and hands. I’ll use those toe warmer packs on my feet, but my gloves are pretty much useless unless I am really working – like riding in the woods. On road rides, my hands freeze into claws, and don’t get warm again until I’ve been inside for at least 20 minutes. Gonna have to do something about that…

frozen hand claw

Oh wait, the title of this post has to do with riding in the sun. River Rd is definitely not in the sun, nor do I actually think it gets any direct sunlight this time of year. It was definitely cold. And there was some sort of a funkiness out on the road. There was this dusty  haze that hung in the air that made everything grey, the frozen puddles in the ditch looked like concrete. Passing cars kicked up huge clouds of this dust, and I could hear my tires throw tiny bits of rock against my down tube. I could see where the frost was beginning to force it’s way through the gravel road bed, and there were times when I thought I might loose it and go down in a heap. It all added up to give me a very strong feeling of not being stoked. I couldn’t quite place it, but there was just an odd feeling of melancholy, likely accentuated by the coldness. Or Dementors.

Still, I managed to ride for about an hour without calamity. And I managed to pick an appropriate outfit that kept my core warm, even in the shade. I had dressing for the upper 40s down, so now I guess I gotta be prepared to get back to practice, and subtract a few degrees. It’s going to be a while before it gets warmer.