How Was Your Commute Today?

[rubysoho]

First commute of the year today and I left my work keys at home.... ten or twelve (not exactly sure...) miles away!

I think I have hit my salt quota for the week. The roads were still dusty with salt from the storm that never came a few days ago. I road on my new Tricross and those hills are definitely more difficult on the tricross than the ruby but it wasn't terrible either! I'm still using a backpack. I hope to have a rack and fenders by the spring.

Only one person was mad and honked at me today. We were on a very narrow road with no sidewalk or shoulder. I consider it one of the more dangerous areas of my commute (aside from some poor viz street crossings and places where traffic is merging on to a road). But with the tricross I can minimize my time on that narrow stretch because I can cut across a public property to get to work instead of needing to stay on the road.

It was cold. (currently 34 degrees) I wore my ski pants over my long cycling pants. I am IN LOVE with my gortex gloves that have two fingers for shifting/breaking and then bundle up the other three of my fingers for warmth in a single compartment. Best ever!

Ok, time to focus and get to work!

[shootingstar]

When it's this cold, I always feel I lost an extra 10 calories just to stay warm for my short commute ride..

It's snowing lightly at windchill -23 degrees C (-9 degrees F). If it weren't for the wind, today's early morning ride to work could have been @ -14 degrees C ( 6 degrees F).

I just hope there won't be ice when I ride home after work.

[rubysoho]

shootingstar, your weather is much colder than mine. Mad respect for you.

[Melalvai]

Cold is relative. What's seriously cold weather in one area is unthinkable in another. Or to put it another way people in milder climates suffer as much at 36F as someone in a harsher climate suffers at 10F.

At least that's my theory, based in part on the few climates I've experienced, and how cold 34F seems at the beginning of winter and how WARM it seems at the end!

We were walking to the grocery store a few weeks ago and it was so cold and windy that both my husband and daughter complained their faces hurt. I was surprised, because it didn't seem that cold to me.

Then a few days ago I learned that there are physiological changes that happen in the skin of the faces of eskimos and in the feet of barefoot runners--any place where skin is routinely exposed to extreme cold. That explains why my face didn't hurt from the cold wind.

[shootingstar]

Then a few days ago I learned that there are physiological changes that happen in the skin of the faces of eskimos and in the feet of barefoot runners--any place where skin is routinely exposed to extreme cold. That explains why my face didn't hurt from the cold wind.

Wonder how folks in extreme cold do it without risking frostbite initially. Seriously. (And I get warnings from long-time locals here about frostbite.)

Yes, what I feel though still cold on the face, etc., is warmer than what it was a few wks. ago when it was colder than -30 degrees C (-22 degrees F) for several days.

If you can believe this: twice in my life within the last 14 years, I have been interviewed for jobs in extreme cold climate zones --1 in the Canadian Arctic and the other about 400 km. probably south of the Arctic Circle.

It is not surprising actually various folks in our area have worked in the Arctic for a stint...no wonder after experiencing similar cold ..as a "taster" before going way up North.

[Melalvai]

Wonder how folks in extreme cold do it without risking frostbite initially.

Good question. I know that my face is "hardened" now, but I don't think my fingers are. Fifteen years ago when I was in college, only a couple hundred miles south of here and during years when winters were milder, I biked 5 minutes each way to campus with inadequate gloves all winter and got a touch of frostbite. For years afterwards, my hands would swell up if the water in the bathroom sink was cold! I'm very paranoid now about my hands getting cold.

[shootingstar]

but I don't think my fingers are.

I can appreciate your panic about easily frozen fingers.

I have Reynauld's Sydrome where my fingers get numb at zero degrees/right at freezing temperatures.

So when I lock up my bike in today's quite cold winter temp., I try to be fast...and park near a building, making sure I have my gloves nearby. I have lobster claw winter cycling gloves, so I have to take them off to deal with a lock.

[redrhodie]

Great commute for me yesterday. Parked my car at work and rode to radiation, which is only 5 miles, but at least it's all uphill coming back. I'm really glad I rode. It's a lot of effort to bring my bike and clothes for just 10 miles, but it's so worth it for the way I feel after.

I'm not sure riding has helped much with fatigue, as I've been sleeping a lot, but I'm convinced it's helped me stay otherwise healthy. I haven't caught any of the viruses my coworkers have had this year. I'm the only one who hasn't been out sick.

[rubysoho]

Good question. I know that my face is "hardened" now, but I don't think my fingers are. Fifteen years ago when I was in college, only a couple hundred miles south of here and during years when winters were milder, I biked 5 minutes each way to campus with inadequate gloves all winter and got a touch of frostbite. For years afterwards, my hands would swell up if the water in the bathroom sink was cold! I'm very paranoid now about my hands getting cold.

This is all very interesting. Growing up I was the kid that wore shorts year-round (in NC so winters are relatively mild with some snow). I then went to college in the mountains and some of my favorite memories are when friends and I would go out snowboard in blizzards. We spent a lot of time outside in really really cold weather. Once or twice so cold that water would freeze before it hit the ground. Then I moved to Northern VA and spent a little over a year as a working student for a horse trainer. I was outside from 6:30am to sometimes 8 or 9 at night, 6 days a week. The girl I worked with and I shared a house on the property but we made so little money that we kept most of the house at 40-50 degrees so the pipes wouldn't burst and our individual rooms at around 60 degrees. In the winter I was sleeping in a sleeping bag with my normal bed covers and in sweatpants and a sweatshirt. Ever since that year I've been super sensitive to cold weather. It has been nearly 4 years now and I am finally not shivering when it is lower than 70 degrees! It has been very strange and I am always dressed in more layers than anyone around me including gloves in my work office with the thermostat set at 70 degrees. I've decided I'm just weird. (But my tolerance for cold seems to be returning slowly.)

[shootingstar]

In the winter I was sleeping in a sleeping bag with my normal bed covers and in sweatpants and a sweatshirt. Ever since that year I've been super sensitive to cold weather. It has been nearly 4 years now and I am finally not shivering when it is lower than 70 degrees! It has been very strange and I am always dressed in more layers than anyone around me including gloves in my work office with the thermostat set at 70 degrees. I've decided I'm just weird. (But my tolerance for cold seems to be returning slowly.)

Maybe that's just it and better: your tolerance to cold is slowly returning. (You were tough!)

We have to give ourselves time to acclimatize ...while we're still young and healthy.

But I don't think I will solve my Reynauld's syndrome --I've gone to 2 doctors about this. I just have to be careful.

[rubysoho]

I was either tough or stupid. Probably a mixture of both.

I found a great pair of gortex gloves that keep my hands wonderfully warm. My hands and feet are always cold and it gets hard to move my pinky and ring finger. These gortex gloves have made it a non-issue when I ride. Would something like that help?

[7rider]

Someone got dumped last night on Valentine's Day.

Saw a bouquet of flowers dumped on the side of the road this morning on my ride in. Bummer.

[redrhodie]

Or, they could have been left on the roof of the car when he was loading in the giant heart shaped box of chocolates.

Either way, it's sad.

[Melalvai]

I love that we've already made up 2 stories to explain the flowers on the road. That's one of the things I love about biking, even more so with walking, is making up stories to explain things.

Here's a silly one I made up about a couple kids' bikes that had been left out in the yard.

[7rider]

I love that we've already made up 2 stories to explain the flowers on the road. That's one of the things I love about biking, even more so with walking, is making up stories to explain things.

Yeah, but I still can't come with a good story to explain the big pile of sweet potatoes I one time saw on a ride!