Tuesday, December 01, 2009

First Sub Ride

This morning's commute marked my first sub freezing ride of the winter season. I usually wear less cold weather clothing than most people but I seem to be a bit thin blooded so far this fall and have required more clothing than usual so, just to be safe, I wore my "mountain bike in any temperature" get up for the ride this morning. Basically it consists of, bibs, wool socks, thermal tights, sleeveless base t, long sleeve thermal t, long sleeve jersey and thin shell. This is, as I mentioned, my go anywhere anytime winter mountain biking wardrobe. I've worn this down to -20 f with no issues other than feet and hands. I was afraid that all of this would be overkill when temps are hovering around 30 degees but my current wussiness and the added wind chill of the road had me feeling pretty comfortable for the whole, whopping, 25 minute ride. I had planned on a grueling, near 1:30 ride (be still my endurance oriented heart) but waking up at 2 and not being able to get back to sleep had me dreading crawling off the couch at 5(the time I'd need to head out in order to hit that tantilizingly long ride time before work) so the boring commute would have to do. That'll do pig, that'll do.

I even busted out the balaclava. I just like to say balaclava!

Pearl Izumi booties that even though they're size XL still don't fit my shoes and can't be zipped up.
My "new to me" Ergon BD2. I'm loving this pack right now. More on that to come.
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4 comments:

Big Bikes said...

It wasn't sub-freezing down this way today but it was a hell of a lot colder than it's been. I wound up dressed like an Eskimo for my ride.

It was like mother nature said "Oh, it's December, enough of this being all warm nonsense." Wham!

rick is! said...

you should see Jason (aka soiled chamois) get kitted up for a 32 degree ride. You'd think he was heading out on the iditabike!

Unknown said...

I wish my commute to work was only 25 minutes. 32 miles to get to the Hollis Plant for me. When I left at 6:15 this morning it was freezing, by 8:15 when I rolled into work I could have been with out a few layers. Oh the joys of winter riding in Maine...

rick is! said...

when I worked in camden, my commute was 30 miles. at the time, I could only pull off a bike commute once, maybe twice a week. of course, close to two hours on the road before sunup and after sun down in the winter wasn't fun so I didn't do that too often.