SpokEasy

Riding Cold

\"ridingThe weather has me riding cold; and it makes me feel downright shivery to think of plunging into the water like those turtles. In fact, chilly weather makes me feel reptilian, i.e. cold-blooded and sluggish.

Now that cooler temperatures have arrived, I\’ve started to record what I wore for each ride; and whether I still felt cold; got too warm; or felt \”just right\”, as Goldilocks would put it.

Cycling shorts; socks; and cycling shoes go without saying. Recording them would be belaboring the obvious. But did I wear double socks; or thermal socks? If so, I write it down. Full-fingered gloves instead of half-fingered gloves? That gets recorded, too. Did I use leg warmers; and a cycling jacket? And a skull cap? Put it in the record.

Today\’s outfit was just right, so I wasn\’t riding cold; except that I wore the skull cap, and my head started to feel a trifle over-warm during the last mile or so. I\’ll take that over my head being too cold, though.

I began this morning\’s under mostly cloudy skies. In fact, I didn\’t even feel much like riding. After about 15 minutes the sun began to dodge in and out of the clouds; and having some sunlight made me feel a bit better. Have I got a touch of SAD?

I made it rather short today; 40.5 miles. On the way home, I made a few brief efforts to ride 14 mph against the wind. I sure need more of that! Despite the fact that the sky seemed to be clearing, there was a light sprinkle about six miles before I got home. I\’m glad it didn\’t actually rain!