October rides: put a little color into it.

[Crankin]

I can do cold, and some think I am crazy for that, but I don't feel safe riding in the rain. I do it if I have to. Tomorrow looks pretty good and I have no commitments until 1 PM.
Right now it's becoming very stormy, dark, severe weather alert. Glad I got home in time. They just lifted a tornado warning in SE MA, so it's around.
It's thundering like crazy...

[north woods gal]

I might be a little crazy about riding in bad weather, but I don't do lightning, tornadoes, blizzards, torrential rains or any of the other weather nasties. In the past, I've had to do some of those by necessity, sometimes stopping to take shelter where I could, but not the sort of experiences I would want to repeat. No way. Still, riding my bike in my commuting days did have advantages in a couple of truly bad weather events in Chicago. The weather had stalled traffic and backed it for many miles, causing people not to get home till late at night. Meanwhile, I just walked my bike around bad spots and made the ride home in almost my average time. Then, too, my bike started every morning and never got stuck in the snow.

Beautiful day shaping up, but, of course, more errands to run in town. Have to get things better co-ordinated. Will probably ride, late afternoon.

[Crankin]

North Woods, I was channeling you this morning. Forecast was very unpredictable, but with no rain predicted until noon. Yet, it looked cold and raw, so I got out my stuff for spin, which is an hour earlier than I planned to do an outdoor ride. I started feeling wimpy and decided 1) I needed some bad-assery in my life and 2) It was nowhere near my limit for cold temperatures at 44. So I just got in my outdoor riding clothes, put air in my tires and hung out until 9:30. I did one last check of the radar, which showed nothing. I had thought about wearing my rain jacket, but instead, at the last minute, I chose a Gore-Tex winter cycling jacket that I bought from someone on TE. It's very thin, but extremely toasty, and I chose it over my normal winter cycling jacket because although they both really can only be use in real cold and make me overheat unless it's in the mid thirties or below, this one has pit zips and actually, you can zip the whole sleeves off each arm.
Went out my basement door and noticed some water on my Garmin. I didn't think anything of it, maybe drops from a tree or the roof, or spray off of the leaves. Put on my lights, and started off, and just as soon as I turned onto Main St, I knew it was raining. But, I didn't go back, despite it being more like a light rain than a drizzle. The sun was coming out in one direction and there was dark sky in another. I kept going, thinking I would turn back and do a 2 mile loop if it got worse. But, by the time I go to the point of turning, it had slowed, so I went on, deciding to do my shortish early AM route. There's a climb at this point, so I knew I'd be warm. The Gore Tex worked repelling the rain, though my tights felt damp. When I got near the top of the hill, it had started raining more steadily again, so I decided to take a short cut of half a mile and head back, knowing there were ways to extend the route, if the rain stopped. It was never heavy, but by this time I felt both sweaty and damp at the same time. So, I ended up doing 7 miles, one of my shortest rides ever, on the road, except for a commute.
I was out for about 30 minutes, and I felt really good from the fresh air, but the risk of hypothermia did worry me. I was dressed correctly, but did not have my helmet rain cover, just a fleece cap under the helmet. It continued raining and got worse until it finally stopped around 1:30.
I was able to get all of my errands done and meet a friend for lunch at 1, so I feel good I got outside and didn't suffer in the sweaty gym...

[north woods gal]

Hey, Crankin, way to go, girl! Yeah, the dressing part is always the trickiest for me, too. Have an old Gore-tex bicycling rain jacket, but it ain't what it used to be. Definitely showing its age and it leaks a bit, now. Time to get something new, but they are so darn expensive. The one plus I have going for me is that most of my biking is close to home, so if I start to get wet and chilled, I'm never far from home. In my Chicago days, though, I did have a very close call with hypothermia on a wet and cold day. That taught me a lesson. You can always shed layers if you over-dress, but if you dress too light and things turn nasty, you're in trouble.

We pushed our errands back till late afternoon, instead of running them first and then riding when we get back. Cool this morning, but no wind and lots of sunshine, so our morning ride was quite pleasant. Not a lot of miles, but anymore, I don't worry too much about the miles. I'm more interested in getting a good workout and that's a matter of adding a lot of hills on a ride. Oh, yeah, hills we have. Most are gentle, but some are challenging. Riding single speed also makes hill climbing a good workout, too. Not riding anywhere near the total miles I once did, but, thanks to the single speed riding, I think my leg strength is as good as it's ever been. My wind, too.

[Crankin]

Yes, this is why I don't fret about my 7-12 mile rides in the early AM, or in yesterday's case, because of weather. These rides always have 1-2 good hills and frankly, the only flat rides I can do are either across town and back (10 miles), an extension of this that has one hill, but we still call it the "flat ride," and is 18-20 miles, or riding to the bike trail in a longer way.
I woke up at 4 AM, so since I was up, I went to spin class at 5:30. Only one other person was there, I guess they were all up late watching the Red Sox. I am glad they won, but I can't alter my schedule for that! I am meticulously rigid about my sleep, exercise, and nutrition schedule, because if I am not, bad things happen.

[north woods gal]

Yipee! Got my Krampus back from the shop and those big 29x3 tires are now tubeless. Does it make a difference? You bet it does. The Kramp now rides the way I always hoped it would ride. Much more lively and responsive with those lighter wheels, plus a softer ride with better traction.

... and the single speed addiction continues. Dropped off the Pugs 2 at the same time. Soon to be another single speed for me to ride.

[north woods gal]

Gray and cloudy and cool all day, yesterday, but at least reasonable for this time of year as far as the 40s temp. Did 13 miles of pavement on the Nature Boy, but cut it short, there, so I could get home and ride the Krampus to see if it was really as big an improvement as I thought it was, now that it's tubeless. The good news is that, oh yeah, I wasn't imagining it. Did 6 miles of trail riding on the Krampus and loved it. May seem contradictory, but on a plus size bike like the Krampus, going tubeless makes for a softer ride (more flex in the tires, no inner tube pushing against it from the inside) AND a faster ride because the greatly reduced wheel weight makes for much better acceleration. That's especially important on a single speed.

May do one final cleanup of my trails, clearing them of all leaves and debris, before the snow covers everything. Up here, of course, that can be any day, now.