cold commute 1.2

It was cold this morning AND this afternoon. It's winter. Deal.

I'll add to that with a few clothing observations. I preface any discussion of how to dress for my commute with the info that it's at a minimum 6 miles with a small bit of rolling hills, although nothing substantial. I can dress a little off and get away with it. That said, being too cold or too hot for 20-30min is no fun. This morning at 17F I had a comfy head, feet and torso. My feet did great w/ 2 wool layers and the plastic bag trick. My legs, though, were cold. I had on wool underwear- 1st time for that this year- a thin tight and a thicker "running" tight. It didn't get the job done and my stiff legs for yesterday's ride never warmed up.

To the contrary, the layers I had on this morning when cold worked perfectly at 26F this afternoon. The torso, however, with 2 wool layers and a Bellweather jacket, was too warm. Tomorrow I might play around with the ensemble to get something more precise. The patterns suggest that mid-10s/mid-20s are our weather future for the next 2 weeks.

Grin, Ride, and Bear.

p.s. I'm adding this post-script b/c I forgot to mention being "humiliated" on my way home today. My legs were stiff and sore the whole day, I assume, from the fixie ride yesterday. As I was turning from Nightingale to Illinois at the base of the hill at the Nature Center/Creason, I saw a cyclist descending to my left at a fair distance. I turned and tried to maintain a reasonable pace, although the sore legs made it a weak effort. At the top the cyclist had made up significant ground and was just behind me. He on his Surly Crosscheck fixie said something nice and motored past me like a train, a 55 yrold train if you catch my drift. We went separate ways through Creason and I headed through the light at Trevilian and Newburg ahead of him. I've met him before, perhaps riding a KHS fixie; if I remember, he knows my workfriend 'Lance', who rarely commutes now. Perhaps I'll be that spry at his age.