December 15, 2008

  • A Cold Day..

    It's a  Cold Sunday Morning!.  I look at the thermometry and it says 7 degrees!   This is colder than I have ever ridden before and it presents a dressing problem.   Get it right and life and riding will be good.  Get it wrong and I could be a miserable puppy.

    So I choose a  some bib shorts and a fleece jersey and a fleece lined pair of  leggings and Jacket.   Does not sound like much, but last time I wore this combo at 15 degrees I was roasting so this is a good guess.  I like the fleece lined jacket cause it breathes really well, hopefully not too well today, but it will allow any moisture inside to be wicked away.....  Oh and gloves, and glove liners and those chemical handwarmers. 

    So you are thinking that I am doing this Solo, but as usual Ron has decided to join me on this one.

    Out the door  I go and I  thought for a moment I had overdressed, but this concern left me after about a mile or so... I arrive at the FCHS but Ron isn't there.  I check my watch and I am 10 minutes late and figure rather than wait I would head down Horsetooth.   That was a mistake cause it was crazy to ride the roads and the sidewalks were double covered with snow plow wash. 

    After a bit of this I don't see Ron and I figure that he was either going to meet me at the park or he took the bike path down.   On my way to the Park I feel twice, due to me not seeing the sidewalk lip.  On one of these I would loose my Camera, but I didn't realize it until I got to the park and wanted to take a picture.

    I get to the park and look for Ron's traks but I don't see any.  Oh well.  Now I decide to put some chempack in my shoes.  It's soooooo cold when I pull my hands out of my gloves.   I had better make this quick or my hands will be frost bitten.   While I am doing this, I see Ron about 200 yards away or so.  I call out but he doesn't hear me.   I quickly get my stuff together and go off  to catch him.

    My  Polar HR monitor says it's 14 degrees.   Unfortunately 14 is as low as it goes!   Anyway I can see Ron in the distance and by the time I start the trails he is at the ridge line.  I call out again, but he is too far away.  Ok I've got one shot at this so I better really hammer and hope I get lucky.   I get to the ridge line and I see him in the valley. I see a way to make up some ground but he is still far I away.  He isn't hammering so I have a chance to catch him.  Finally after wasting much energy I catch him near the end of the park...

    Now my hands are hurting from the cold.  I had exposed them too long fixing the booties.   I can feel the warmth of the heating packs and I hoped they could revive them.  I hate that cold feeling and if I had to ride home I would be frost bitten seriously.    After a few minutes the warmth takes over.  Bummer I don't have my camera....

    Ron is doing OK except his goggles are fogging and he can't see that well.   We are only a few miles from Ron's house so we know we can go to his place to recover.  We decide we are OK and we start to head towards Maxwell.   It's climb that will help warm us up.

    Did I mention that our liquids were frozen.  Even with the thermal tube on my Camelback.   I had filled mine with hot water before I left the house but that wasn't enough.  Oh well, we will be Ok for now.   We are traveling North and we have a tail wind.  When we stop and look into the wind it's really fracking cold.  I dread turning back.

    At the summint we head along the ridge line.   The water in the resovoir is steaming and it's quite a sight.  Wish I had the camera.   We press on and the snow is good.  Ron's got new rubber and is doing a bit better than I am at some points.  

    After a bit we turn back and take the shoreline trail.  It gives us some shelter from the wind but it's cold.  I have dressed OK for this one, but my glasses don't give me the  wind protection like my old Oakleys did.  My eyes are tearing a bit.    

    We take Maxwell descent and I tried to rail this turn but it was Icy so I had this nice  low side, but I was able to run it off sorta.    We continue on, and having fun.  I am not sure where it happened but I lost a lot of air from the shock and it was bottoming out!   Because of this I hit a rock on the way down and the chainring hit the ground and pitched me over the bars.   I am Ok....

    We finish out the descent and some of Pine ridge....  Ron heads for home and I head down Horsetooth in search of my Camera.    The road is really ugly and I am bummed I can't take the bike path.    I retrace my steps and I find my Camera laying in the snow!    I try and take a picture but the Camera says the batteries are depleted.  The batteries had a fresh charge when I left!  (Later it warmed up after a few hours in the house and still had a full charge).

    This was a fun day but I wish my shock would have worked better.  I just had the fork Push'd and it's wonderful, so maybe it' time for shock.... Anyway this was good clean fun.   I'll be better dialed in next time with better glasses or goggles. however I may think twice about riding in this cold as this is close to my limits.  Oh so I get home about 2:30 so it was a good long ride. The temperature  at home is 7 degrees still!    My finger tips are a bit tender even now as I type this a day later...