TOT 10: Cold as Ice to Me

I rode early solo at Rosaryville this morning. I thought it was about 8 degrees or so, but then my smartphone affiliated with the nearest weather observation post, the Tippett station, and informed me the temp at 8:25 was 5. So there's a pretty good chance it was 3 or 2 when I pushed off at ride start.

How cold is that? Cold enough that the inside and outside of my helmet was iced up.

Keeping a Cool Head...

The white stuff there, is ice. The riding itself was okay. The douchebag ruts are getting pounded down into dust, the dry, dessicated earth from the prolonged hard freeze is making them crispy and cyclists are breaking them down. We're supposed to have temps in the mid-40's over the next couple days though, and this thaw will bring water up to the surface, at which point douchebags will go for pleasant, late afternoon rides and dig new, deep, 4" ruts into the trails. For today it was alright however. Took 20-30 minutes for my legs to loosen up enough to stop pedaling squares, but loosen they did. If my feet had been warmer I'd have ridden maybe another half lap. They weren't, and I didn't.

Two noteworthy things happened. One is that my tires, inflated to 20 PSI at room temperature, were bottoming out and I was hitting the rim on every little root I crossed. I guess the cold air caused enough contraction that an event which normally occurs once or maybe twice per ride became commonplace. Second, my lobster gloves - which are too warm for ordinary cold weather riding - actually didn't do a great job of keeping my hands warm. Yeah, it was real cold to be riding a bike.

Even with the ruts and the cold, it was still worth the trip.

Sunofagun...