The wind was absolutely howling this morning. 20 MPH wind with gusts up to 40 MPH. I tuned in the TV this morning while getting ready for work to catch the weather report. It was also raining sideways. Not exactly the kind of weather that I can say I wanted to go for a ride, but out the door I went.
I think that this morning's ride was one the most challenging that I have experienced. The wind was blowing so hard at times I could not ride straight. It was a challenge at times to go 10 miles per hour. I was soaked. I felt a bit like one of those poor reporters that they put outside when broadcasting about a hurricane.
It's rained every day this week. I've come to take the reflective logo on my rain jacket that says "Ride Dry" as good advice, but somewhat a cruel irony when you realize just how wet I am underneath.
It took me about an hour and 20 minutes to make it to work today. When I got here, I took a long hot shower to warm up. I've found that facing the window in my cube, I can use the radiant heat to dry my clothing if I make a point to remember to move stuff around enough to get it all dry.
Settling into my cube, it's not all that extraordinary to have ridden this morning. After all, it's rained ever day this week. It is not a week that I would have wanted to "start" commuting. I've survived just fine. It hasn't been a fun week, but I have made it and I am stronger for it. With each "challenge" I get a little more confident for the next.
Today marks 59 days in a row of having ridden to and from work. (It would be 60, but we had Labor Day.) That's just shy of 1,800 miles. I won't go so far as to say that I am saving any money. I've spent WAY more on cycling-related purchases than I could have saved in fuel costs. The car sat un-driven in the garage until it sold so we still had a car payment. Going forward, I suspect that there will be some cost-savings since we only own the one car now.
1 comment:
59 straight days. That's great!
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