No Freezing = A Good Ride

I felt like the kid brother from A Christmas Story today on my ride. Stood outside for a moment before getting dressed and pretty much froze. Checked the weather – a high of 35 but 22 with the windchill, gusts between 20 and 28 miles per hour.

Fun! When the weather isn’t great and I had a ride planned, I usually just throw on the running shoes and head out for a few miles instead. I’ve been in a riding mood, though, and can’t hide from the weather all winter, so I got all my bike warms together and pieced together four 6-mile loops, none too far from home in case I did, in fact, start to freeze to death.

Here's what I had on: Under Armor top, bike jersey, arm warmers, jacket, tri shorts, leg warmers, windproof pants, two pairs of socks, shoe covers, shoes (no kidding), lobster claw bike gloves (first time trying them out, they worked great), helmet liner, helmet. It took me 15 minutes to get dressed. I felt like the opposite of a stripper.

The obscene amount of clothing worked, though, as I was comfortable for the whole ride. The wind was a bit crazy -- I sometimes had to lean into it to keep from blowing over, so that was exciting, but otherwise, a happily uneventful ride.