Riding in the Holiday Season: December Rides!

[north woods gal]

Lost my record, yesterday. Was shoveling off the trail and next thing I knew it was too dark to ride the trail, safely (get's dark very early, up here). Not to mention I was totally pooped out from all that shoveling, anyway. Oh, well. Kind of nutty to think I have to ride each and every day in this weather. Some real cold headed our way by the ned of the week, with single digit and sub zero stuff.

On a brighter note, we have Common Redpolls at the feeder! They're strictly a northern bird that wanders a lot in the winter. Some winters, don't see a one. Other winters, see them a lot.

Not a great pic, but shows what the Common Redpoll looks like for you folks that live south of us.

[emily_in_nc]

NWG, thank you for sharing your photos of Common Redpolls. I had never heard of them until our one winter in Wisconsin many years ago, but they graced our feeders every day, and I so enjoyed feeding and seeing them!

The past two days have been very very warm for December rides, but we've lucked out as the wind has finally died for a bit. Very enjoyable. Just strange to be in sleeveless jerseys and 80 degree temps in mid-December, though it's to get a bit cooler next week.

Congratulations on 6000 miles, Sue -- that's a lot! I went over 3500 yesterday. Should be quite a bit more, but with my enforced layoff this spring/summer, I missed a few months. I'm still quite happy with this total and will get a few more rides in before the new year.

[Crankin]

Congrats on the mileage, everyone. I am still hoping to get one more ride in, it may be tomorrow afternoon. I will still go to my class at the gym, half spin, half conditioning, but then I have my office holiday party at lunch time. I normally wouldn't be there on Wednesdays, so after lunch, it will be around 40 and I may go for a ride, if it's not too windy. It was 49 today, but of course, I was working.
I'm just happy I got to x country ski Sunday.

[north woods gal]

Ooops, missed that Sue. 6000 miles is one heck of a year. Congrats.

Good ride, today, but mostly on paved neighborhood roads. Temp was warm enough to break up some of the snow pack and traction was very good. Not much for miles, only 7, but riding snow is different, plus added in 3 miles on my trails.

Our forecast high temp for Christmas is zero. Note self: time to setup the indoor trainer.

[ny biker]

Catching up.

Best of luck with the IVF, Rebecca!

Congrats Sue! And hats off to you, NWG, for getting outside for activity every day.

Happy Chanukah to Crankin and anyone else who celebrates! (I hope I spelled that right!)

I personally love seeing pics from and reading about winter rides in areas that are still warm.

I managed to get out and ride last night. We've had warm-ish weather for a few days, but I wasn't able to do any cycling over the weekend for a couple of reasons. I've had a cold which caused lots of coughing. We also had a tiny bit of snow that fell during rush hour on Friday, so all the roads in the area were heavily salted, and road salt is a minor asthma trigger for me. And on top of everything else I had lots of shopping and other things to do to get ready for Christmas. So conditions were not good for bike rides. But yesterday things were better. It was the warmest day of the bunch, topping out near 60, and the forecast was for temps to stay in the low 50s until late at night. My cough has finally subsided, and most of the road salt has dissipated.

Even at 50 degrees it was still chilly when I started around 8:45 pm, but I warmed up quickly. In fact it was so nice that I extended things a bit. I did notice more of a chill as I got near the Potomac River, and again near the end it was a bit colder. But overall I was comfortable. It was nice to see all the holiday lights that people have put up. At the end of the ride my Garmin showed that I'd ridden just under 20 miles, so I did a few laps around the parking lot to make it an even 20. Normally I do some 20ish mile night rides over the summer and shorter rides this time of year, but this year has not been normal at all.

So now I'm done for the year, as I'm heading out of town soon for the holidays and won't be back until late on Jan 1.

[north woods gal]

What a relief to see everyone, again. I couldn't pull the site up for several days, now. Kept getting a "couldn't connect with the server message". Anyone else have this problem?

Anyway, yes, crazy me, I'm still riding every day and we're now into some serious cold as in below zero for a high temp. Minus 23, last night, for a low. Won't even try to explain why anyone would be riding in such weather, but just as an interesting thing to share, when riding in sub zero cold, some things kick in that are unique to that kind of cold.

The most noticeable thing when riding on the hard pack snow or even clean pavement in sub zero cold is the increased rolling resistance with the tires. On a local road, for instance, my usual top speed rolling down the hill in warm weather or even moderate cold weather is about 18 mph with the fat bike. In sub zero cold, same snow conditions and road, same bike, same tire pressure, my max speed on this hill drops to about 13 mph. That's a huge decrease! With that added rolling resistance, even riding a short 5 miles on the road becomes a serious workout. I lose at least two, maybe three, gears to maintain my usual pace. On the trail, bike handling also changes.

The one good thing about this kind of cold, though, is that the snow hardens up nice, allowing me to ride in snow that is too deep when it is warmer. Can also ride out on the lake, now.

If all goes well, will finish the month with only two days missed on the riding. One of those days, was spent shoveling snow on my trails and one of those days was a glorious day in fresh snow with the XC skis. Just couldn't pull off the skis and go bike riding.

Hope everyone is enjoying the holidays. Please think of me when you're riding in more sane weather. Send some my way.

[Crankin]

The only riding I have been doing is spin class. I go to one that's only 30 minutes, followed by 30 minutes of core/body work. It's on Wednesdays and Fridays, so when I can't do an outdoor activity, I go to this. Done a few hour long spin classes in the past month. Will look at my Garmin on Friday, to see my total miles, and at this point, it's fine. I am thoroughly enjoying xcountry skiing and snow shoeing/hiking in the winter and looking forward to renewed motivation and maybe a century this year.
Glad the forum is back.

[shootingstar]

Lost my record, yesterday. Was shoveling off the trail and next thing I knew it was too dark to ride the trail, safely (get's dark very early, up here). Not to mention I was totally pooped out from all that shoveling, anyway. Oh, well. Kind of nutty to think I have to ride each and every day in this weather. Some real cold headed our way by the ned of the week, with single digit and sub zero stuff.

On a brighter note, we have Common Redpolls at the feeder! They're strictly a northern bird that wanders a lot in the winter. Some winters, don't see a one. Other winters, see them a lot.

Not a great pic, but shows what the Common Redpoll looks like for you folks that live south of us.

Redpoll birds are incredibly hardy: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgar...nter-1.4465936

"They can survive up to 20 hours without access to food, even if temperatures drop to -54 C," Keating said.
Redpolls have specially designed esophageal pouches that allow them to hold on to seeds, then later slowly digest them to provide them with energy to maintain their core at a balmy 40 C — "kinda like throwing logs on a fireplace."
"Their internal temperature can be 73 degrees warmer than the surrounding air, with the two extremes being separated by less than a half a centimetre layer of feathers."

[north woods gal]

For sure, very hard birds. Have to be, to hang around in the winter, up here.

Speaking of birds, have had a Northern Shrike hanging around our neighborhood the last couple of weeks, running a route of all the local bird feeders. Another very interesting bird, basically a song bird turned predator. When the Shrike is around, the birds at the feeder react the same way as when a hawk is around, namely, all activity ceases and the birds wait until the Shrike is gone before moving.

[emily_in_nc]

I need 8 more miles to hit 3700 for the year. We'd planned to ride today, but it was (in the morning and still is in the afternoon) in the low 50s with a brisk north breeze, full cloud cover, and mist in the air, so we bailed. We took a 6 mile walk instead, in many layers. Warmed up as we went and enjoyed it. The weekend looks a little nicer, still chillier than normal for central Florida, but sunny, at least. I normally avoid the bike paths on weekends because of all the kids and tourists, so I may just do a short road ride to get my miles. Next week looks cold pretty much every day, so not sure how much riding I'll get done the first week of the new year.

Yes, I do realize that my idea of "cold" is a bit skewed.

[north woods gal]

Emily, I'm in awe of that mileage for the year, considering what you've overcome. Even without that, I'd be tickled to get that many miles in for the year. My riding has changed to mostly trail riding, now, so doubt I'll ever see those kinds of miles, again. Well, never say never, of course. Who ever knows what tomorrow may bring?

Our snow is now hard as a rock given our steady sub zero temps, so that's actually a good thing for my fat bike riding. I can ride faster. Not so great for the XC skiing, though. Means I will definitely need to rewax the skis and I've been to busy with the biking to get around to it.

[emily_in_nc]

Emily, I'm in awe of that mileage for the year, considering what you've overcome. Even without that, I'd be tickled to get that many miles in for the year. My riding has changed to mostly trail riding, now, so doubt I'll ever see those kinds of miles, again. Well, never say never, of course. Who ever knows what tomorrow may bring?

Awww, thanks, NWG. Really, though, I did have a bit of an advantage since we were in Florida for much of the year. I missed out on riding from late April through early August due to my injuries, and that is probably equivalent to what I used to miss during the winter in NC. I'd get out from time to time, but overall, the winter season was too cold for my blood!

It was chilly today so I deferred riding until tomorrow, which isn't due to be a lot warmer, but the sun will be out, and I am determined to get that 8 miles in; if not more.

[ny biker]

Well I finally uploaded all of this year's rides from my Garmin. My total mileage for the year was just 1370. Oh well, it was what it was. As Lance Armstrong would say: Onward.

DC weather forecasters are expecting colder than normal temps for January, for the first couple of weeks at least. I got three books for Christmas and am hoping they will be good distractions while riding the stationary bike at the gym.

Happy New Year to all!