Like Crankin we are in zip up/zip down/zip up again weather around here. Saturday started with rain and conversational snow, then the sun came out and the winds kicked up. Which would have been fine if it was January. Overnight we had a hard freeze, and it was 36F when I woke up to get ready for the bike ride I intended to do. It was a ride with a club that I'm not a member of, a pretty far drive from home, but in the same area as the upcoming Tour de Cure so it would have been good training for that. However it was also my shakedown ride with the new tires, in an area I'm not at all familiar with, and with people I don't know. I wasn't expecting a problem with the new tires but I didn't want to risk being stranded alone or having to bother people I didn't know if there was a mechanical. Adding that to the cold air I decided to just go back to sleep and ride on my own in the afternoon after the temp got into the low 50s.
Then of course I frittered about as I usually do, and didn't end up starting my ride until after 2 pm. I chose a 30 mile route that I used to do all the time when I mostly rode by myself. There are two proper hills, short but steep, plus several long false flats, the kind of gradual inclines that drive me nuts. To add to the challenge I decided to do each real hill twice. I also detoured and explored a bit to add miles. In the end I rode 35 miles with about the same amount of climbing as the previous weekend. The first steep hill was only 4 miles into the ride which guaranteed that my legs would be tired until the end. As for the weather -- it was really cold in the public parking garage so I put on three extra layers (wool shrug, windbreaker, wind vest). After riding in the sun a few miles I took off the jacket and vest, then 2 minutes later put the vest back on again. Then spent several miles feeling like I was either too warm or too cold. Luckily after that I settled into a rhythm, or maybe the sun was at just the right angle, so I was never perfectly comfortable but not really uncomfortable either. With plenty of zipping and unzipping the vest as the terrain changed and I moved in and out of the shade.
Overall it was an enjoyable ride, with the exception of the idiot in the silver Honda who nearly right-hooked me a few miles from the end. I barely managed to stop in time. After making the turn she stopped in the middle of the road. This being Virginia, I figured it was a 50/50 chance that she was either contemplating her mistake and learning from it or reaching for her gun to finish me off. So I yelled from a distance and rode on. I was pleased with how quickly I was able to stop shaking and calm down.
Then last night I went out for my weekly hill ride. It went well -- for the first time in weeks my legs didn't feel exhausted from start to finish. Of course I added in a couple of additional hills so they were plenty tired by the end. In all I rode almost 19 miles. Again temps were in the 50s, from 59 at the start to 50 at the end. Again I started out with an extra layer, removed it after a couple of miles, did lots of zipping/unzipping of my fleece jersey, put the vest back on for the last few miles. Perhaps April should be the month when we celebrate the inventor of the zipper. :D
Last night I tried out a new pair of Endura tights that I recently picked up, because my old Sugoi Midzero tights are starting to look a bit ragged. The Endura tights have no fleecy inside -- they're more like shorts material that goes down to your ankles. But they were warm enough for last night and they have great reflective stuff all over them for night rides.
The Conti GPs are working well so far. They are harder than my old tires, I think -- I feel the bumps more at the same psi. So I'm experimenting with a lower pressure. I did have one mechanical failure last night -- my Light and Motion headlight refused to turn on even though the battery was fully charged. It was a backup, since I also had my Bontrager headlight with me, so no crisis. After I got home I was able to get the L&M to turn on, but I think there must be something wrong with the switch. Both headlights have short battery lives at the highest power output so during dark winter night rides I end up using both of them. Luckily with summer's later sunsets on the horizon I can get by with the just Bontrager for now.
