Nope, still too cold

[yellow]

Yeah, Yellow, you know normally I can handle the city traffic just fine. Today I was off; instead of navigating intersections, I was making turns I didn't want to make, I couldn't clip into my new pedals right, I felt afraid of the cars...I almost never feel really afraid of the cars. Alert to them, annoyed by them, but not afraid.

Sounds like my ride a couple of weekends ago. I think a lot of what I am having a hard time with is the loss of quiet and the introduction of, well, chaos. I used to ride down my driveway make 2 rights, and I was on a quiet, 2-lane country road with very light traffic (sometimes none at all) and fabulous hills to conquer. Riding was peaceful and allowed me to clean the junk out of my head. I need to relearn the process all over, I think, with this introduction of background static. Unfortunately I can see myself not riding my road bike AT ALL with my head the way it is.

(Oh, and my yard doesn't look that great yet! Just trying to take control over it at this point. Since it's a new-to-me yard, I have no idea what it's going to do. I did announce to my neighbors yesterday that I was going to nuke the lawn and xeriscape the area...and then the dog was out there last night laying in it and oh so happy. I did have to buy a lawn mower, but I got a manual reel-type mower that works on human power.)

[Crankin]

Even though I actually rode at least one time each month this warm winter, I have hardly ridden at all in the last couple of weeks. We had a warm week 2 weeks ago where I did 2 mtb and 2 road rides. Then it started raining and it's been damp, cloudy, and raw. Like yesterday, I intended to go out for a short 15 mile ride in the later afternoon, as it was clearing and supposed to get warmer. But when i was ready, I went outside and thought, it's just too raw and breezy. I went to the health club and lifted. Am I a wimp? I have all of the winter gear, but it seems like it's not fun when it's cold. If the sun is out, 42 degrees is fine. Take away the sun and I'm not that happy.

I, too, have felt a little "off." Just when i was starting to get in the groove 2 weeks ago, the weather got cold. I even got back on mountain bike and handled some tricky trails (slowly). Well, we are leaving for a 25-35 mile ride in awhile. It's now 45 out, but it's sunny.... Since we are going on a trip to the White Mountains in NH over Memorial day, with some challenging riding, I hope I can get myself back into gear.

[newfsmith]

My husband had a barbershop contest yesterday and was going to be at that for most of the day, so in order to have a week-end day together I had to do my riding yesterday in the 40-ish rain. Thank heaven it stopped raining about a third of the way to Mendon. I took a break at a very interesting little LBS in Holliston, Grace Bicycles, on rt 16. They carry Moots, Bianchi, Specialized and Raleigh. The manager used to work for Seven, and is interested in fitting bikes. He took the time to talk to me, and actually went out to look at my bike and talk about commuting bike design. It seemed like a nice shop. I guess I'm pretty used to riding in wet weather and have assembled the assortment of gear to ride comfortably in it, as I got in 56 badly needed miles.

[Quillfred]

[QUOTE=Barb, USA]Has anyone in the Seattle area tried biking yet? There's a convention in March of 2007 I'd like to go to, but I don't want to go unless I can also cycle.

Hi Barb

The trick here in Seattle is to expect rain in March (average high temp is 53F) and be happy if it is dry. We still ride but worship Gore-tex. BeautifulSeattle.com will give you some idea. Currently it is drizzling.

[janetsplanet]

Okay it says it is 60 in the sun here in beautiful Wisconsin but....when you start moving and get into the wind...no more like 50 so instead of riding my bike trail I walked it. 6.8 miles and I had to dodge about 4 bikers but they looked cold so I didnt feel so bad.
Next week it will be different..(clicking my ruby slippers 3 times) There is no place like Wisconsin Theres no place like Wisconsin in the summer time......

[Geonz]

When it's really cold it helps me to warm up before I go outside, or jog for 5 minutes first, because about 10 minutes after starting I will get a lot warmer. (We might just be differently engineered, though, because at 41 degrees my fingers wlil not turn into popsicles if I've got any kind of gloves on; it takes below 35 for me to need the thicker gloves, and they are fine down to 3 or 4 for my 40 min. commute and when it's that cold, I don't go extra miles or minutes!)

[tulip]

This year was the first year that I commuted all winter--even in the snow and ice (there wasn't much) with studded tires. It has really paid off now that the weather has warmed up. Last year my best time for my very urban (i.e. stopsigns and stoplights and traffic) 14 mile commute (each way) was 1:10, and already this year I've been below 1:10 three times, the fastest being 1:04.

It's definitely worth a bit of cold! When you've ridden in 19F, 50F is downright balmy.

[Lise]

I think it was the wind + my mental state (new guy is AWOL. sigh.) I know that when I am upset about something, I can get deeply chilled on the warmest days.

Sue, you have a good point about the warming up. I wore the thin-ish gloves that I wear when running under my padded/fingerless biking gloves. All winter, I wore those thin gloves to run. I'd be cold for the first mile, and then comfortably warm, even in the '20s, after that.

Tulip--good for you about the commuting all winter. DC is one of my favorite cities, but I've never been there in the winter. 1:10 is a long time to be moving fast on a bike when it's cold out. You're going to love the spring! Are the cherry blossoms out? Enjoy!

[Surlygirl]

I had the same problem last week. The week before I did over a hundred miles and it was gorgeous and then last week it turned cold and raw again and hardley any sun. I just couldn't drag my butt out there. Its suppose to be nice again this week, so back to logging the miles. Hopefully everyone else will get out to ride this week too.