BleeckerSt_Girl
12-29-2006, 04:30 PM
DH and I managed to ride 35 miles today in 31 degrees F. Took us about 3 hours 50 minutes (hills, you know). I didn't actually get tired which I was very happy about, but my fingers and toes got very cold. Especially my toes, they were extremely painful and going numb by the time we got home. :( Had plenty of layering on everywhere, I guess the time factor kicked in with the cold after 3 hours or so.
I must say first it's so GOOD to not have that awful cold I had for 3 weeks anymore and be able to ride again with a clear head and no more coughing or earaches.
We had planned to ride to a little town that had a sweet cafe right on the Hudson river, like 30 yards from the shore. That would be our 18 mile halfway point and from there we'd head home around a different way. Not much else in the village there at all, just the cafe and a post office. By the time we got there we were plenty cold and eager for some hot drinks and to rest, bathroom, etc. Boy were we dismayed when we got there and saw it was CLOSED for the week, until after New Years! :(
Well, we needed to warm up someplace, anyplace, so we decided to just go into the tiny post office next to the closed cafe and try to warm up inside the vestibule. Imagine our delight when we entered the PO and saw a table full of hot coffee and yummy cookies and homemade lemon cake all laid out with little festive poinsettia holiday napkins!!! :eek: :D :eek: :D I thought I had died and gone to Heaven.
The Post mistress expained that they decided to do that during the week the cafe was closed in case there were any disappointed hungry cold people. Oh, BABY. So we put some dough in the donation cup and went to town on the coffee and lemon cake. It was so perfect! The PO lady told us that in the summer she brings her kayak to work and throws it in the river right across the street from the PO during her lunch hour and kayaks. Too cool.
When we were ready to go, I thought about having to pee in some freezing bushes on the way home and I gingerly asked her if I could use the bathroom (no public restroom there) and she let me use theirs in the back of the mail room!!! I felt so lucky and so grateful!
Got pretty well frozen toes on the way home and never was so glad to limp in the front door on my frozen stumps into the WARM house and greeted by all our WARM purring kitties. :p :p :p ...and to top off the day, my new snowshoes were waiting for me in a box on the back porch! Yay, bring on the snow!! (hope, hope...) :)
An excellent day in spite of the painful "popsicle toes".
I must say first it's so GOOD to not have that awful cold I had for 3 weeks anymore and be able to ride again with a clear head and no more coughing or earaches.
We had planned to ride to a little town that had a sweet cafe right on the Hudson river, like 30 yards from the shore. That would be our 18 mile halfway point and from there we'd head home around a different way. Not much else in the village there at all, just the cafe and a post office. By the time we got there we were plenty cold and eager for some hot drinks and to rest, bathroom, etc. Boy were we dismayed when we got there and saw it was CLOSED for the week, until after New Years! :(
Well, we needed to warm up someplace, anyplace, so we decided to just go into the tiny post office next to the closed cafe and try to warm up inside the vestibule. Imagine our delight when we entered the PO and saw a table full of hot coffee and yummy cookies and homemade lemon cake all laid out with little festive poinsettia holiday napkins!!! :eek: :D :eek: :D I thought I had died and gone to Heaven.
The Post mistress expained that they decided to do that during the week the cafe was closed in case there were any disappointed hungry cold people. Oh, BABY. So we put some dough in the donation cup and went to town on the coffee and lemon cake. It was so perfect! The PO lady told us that in the summer she brings her kayak to work and throws it in the river right across the street from the PO during her lunch hour and kayaks. Too cool.
When we were ready to go, I thought about having to pee in some freezing bushes on the way home and I gingerly asked her if I could use the bathroom (no public restroom there) and she let me use theirs in the back of the mail room!!! I felt so lucky and so grateful!
Got pretty well frozen toes on the way home and never was so glad to limp in the front door on my frozen stumps into the WARM house and greeted by all our WARM purring kitties. :p :p :p ...and to top off the day, my new snowshoes were waiting for me in a box on the back porch! Yay, bring on the snow!! (hope, hope...) :)
An excellent day in spite of the painful "popsicle toes".