Wednesday, January 02, 2008

Brrrrr

Motivated by a friend's commitment to get out of bed in the morning, today marks the second day of getting right out of bed at 5am. No Snoozing. I am glad that I got out of bed on time because it took so flippin' long to get dressed.

Followed the normal routine of showering then grabbed a pile of clothing and headed downstairs to the kitchen to make morning coffee and get dressed for riding. In order to prevent from getting too warm before leaving the house, I have been putting on the last of my layers in the garage before leaving. Not rushing, not screwing around, I thought I was being efficient with time, but it took me nearly 20 minutes to put on all of the layers of clothing an load up my panniers with some additional clothing options for the ride to work.

My new weather station that I received for Christmas indicated -5.6 degrees Fahrenheit. My former epicenter of weather information:

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The TCF Bank indicated -6 at 5:49am.

It was an experimentation day today. I had stopped by REI on Monday afternoon in an effort to pick up some birthday gifts for my lovely wife for her birthday yesterday. Though I struck out in finding ANY Smart Wool women's socks, I did pick up a pair of Novara Tempest pants based on the review/recommendation from Doug.

My Lake Winter Cycling shoes have come un-stitched on both heals. I called Lake and they will pay to have them repaired, so off they go to George's Shoe Repair to be fixed. In the time while I wait, I put some platform pedals on and am riding with last year's cold weather set up. A pair of North Face waterproof, insulated winter hiking boots.

I had to stop a couple of times to make adjustments in clothing. First, I was too warm in the core. So I switched from a wind-blocker fleece vest to an old jacket that I made into a vest by cutting off the sleeves.

I was fine for a while until the wind had worked away on my right arm. I could have probably made it to work uncomfortably, but I made another stop about half way to work. I peeled off a layer and added a waterproof jacket.

By the time I got to work, I was very comfortable upper body, head, legs, hands, but my feet were COLD. I tried moving feet around on the pedals while riding in an effort to improve circulation but it did not do much good. I will say that riding with platform pedals SUCKS. I would take riding in cycling shoes ANY day.

Weather is supposed to warm up here in the next couple of days. I can deal with riding on platform pedals for a couple more trips, but will be happy to get my Lake shoes back, really happy.

I also started the New Year with (are you sitting down?) a clean bike! In the process of swapping out pedals, I actually cleaned my Quickbeam.

5 comments:

CoCargoRider said...

I guessing since the TCF thermometer says 73, it was not this morning. I had -5 when I left home today but it was nice. Sorry about the boots.

Reflector Collector said...

Other than poor timing, I have no problem with the Lake boots. I called Lake, they were VERY helpful. My wife was kind enough to drop them off at George's and they will be done on Friday.

Evidently, when the new '08 MXZ302-X shoes were made, they used a carbon kevlar thread that just does not hold up to the task. Lake will be covering the cost for repair.

Being without them for a couple of days will make me appreciate them all that much more.

. said...

with windchill, 8 degrees. kinda felt your commute for a morning. Had to bust out the 1970 balaclava. I understand the drive to drive and lack of motivation. ...and yes my friend, cold feet suck.

Paul said...

Ken, I am now on day 4 of not pushing snooze! I am glad to hear that you are also making it goal!

Paul

Doug said...

I recommended the Novara Headwind pants. Although, I'm not sure what the difference is between the Tempest and the Headwind pants. They both cost the same and have nearly the same description. Anyhoo....I hope they work for you as well as they do for me. I used one pair through last winter, wearing them everyday. This fall I bought two more pair. They work great for me. For colder temps I put a base layer underneath. Can't remember the last time I had cold legs.

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