Cold, cables and friends

[Veronica]

I started my ride for my December 200K at 7AM and it was 34 degrees out. It ended 1 hour 48 minutes later when I snapped my front derailleur cable. My toes, fingers and legs were numb as I descended the ridge I had just climbed. The road under the trees still had some black ice. While I am normally a daring descender, I had no desire to add personal injury to my day and went very slowly and carefully.

Thank goodness for good friends who will come rescue you. Yes, I could have ridden back to the ride start in my little chain ring - can you say Super Spin! But at that point the temp had risen to a whooping 39 degrees and my spirits and enthusiasm had dropped to below zero. It was much more pleasant to wait in a coffee shop with a steaming white mocha for my good friends Jo and Leebob to come to my rescue. And Leebob is my bike LT's hero. Lee put a new cable on lickety split for me.

I am pondering trying today's ride again on Wed. as our weather looks most promising then. But I have to say I did not much enjoy freezing my... insert body part of your choice here, everything was COLD! Riding is suppose to be fun and freezing is not fun. Also, I have a hard time hydrating enough in these conditions as my current dehydration headache can attest to. And I wasn't even riding that hard.

The sky was gorgeous though and watching the sun come up over the ridge was nice. The frost on all the leaves was very pretty and the squirrels frisking about under the trees were cute.

Twelve is just a number and I do have other goals to think about. After I get the feeling back in my feet.

Veronica

[snapdragen]

Maybe you need these:

http://www.rei.com/product/730869

[Veronica]

Do you think they would last 11 hours?

Last year or maybe the year before, Thom gave this little heater thing that runs on lighter fluid. I was wishing for that.

Actually my core was pretty warm and my arms weren't too bad. But feet, hands and legs were chilly.

Veronica

[jobob]

Lee swears by them. Plus, you probably wouldn't need them for more than a few hours. And they're small (esp the toe warmer size) so you could always carry an extra pair in your bag if it cools off in the late afternoon. Just sayin'.

[Sgritn]

Bravo to all you cold weather toughies but my behind is playing chicken little until warmer weather.

[snapdragen]

Do you think they would last 11 hours?

You need to check with Adventure Girl, she was using them when riding on the motorcycle with Adventure Boy up in Sonoma.

[salsabike]

We also wear SmartWool mountaineering socks when it goes below 40 degrees here. The combination of those socks plus the toe warmers might well take care of it for the whole 200K. Pretty sure Chris wore those socks on his last 200--he's also doing his R-12.

[smurfalicious]

Or maybe you could get some of these: http://www.sidiusa.com/toaster.html

Glad to hear you were able to get home safe and sound. That's the thing that limits me when I ride is that I hardly know anyone. So if I'm way out in the middle of nowhere I have a short list of folks to call.

I've got to finish fleshing out my winter wardrobe but in the mean time we have a week of mid 40s coming so I should be able to get out.

[Pedal Wench]

You need to check with Adventure Girl, she was using them when riding on the motorcycle with Adventure Boy up in Sonoma.

I use the toe-warmer version all the time. I swear by them when the temps are in the 40's or below. To me, having something actively heating my toes is wonderful. I tried using the handwarmers on my wrists on a ride in the low 30's. I didn't have enough layers between them and my wrist, and I ended up irritating the skin on my wrists. But, I was warm!

Oh -- they last for about 6 hours. You do need to make sure there is a little air around them - they need oxygen to activate, and don't put them directly on your skin.