Pre Dawn Rides

When it gets colder, you're not supposed to start the majority of your rides before the sun comes up. But I find myself doing that recently. Today was 6:20. Saturday was 6:05. Same story last week, and tomorrow, and Thursday no doubt.

The temps are supposed to bump up for Thursday morning and it may be 50 when I ride. So I may extend this one to a solid 3+ hours just to enjoy what little warm mornings I have left. Before long it will be dipping well below 37 degrees like it was today. Not sure how well I can handle an hour at 25 in the dark. But if the goal is worth it the answer should be easy enough.

The one thing about riding on these cold days, when the sun comes up it feels so amazingly refreshing. It's just great to be out on the bike at that hour of the day. It's also great to have been out for 2 hours and think, "I'd just be getting to Penn Station right now."

It's Still Cold At 5:00 AM

Woke up today at 5:00 for a planned tempo ride through the swamp. When my feet hit the kitchen floor my eyes hit the thermometer: 41.7. Gay.

I debated while I ate my cereal. At this point I can't take the trainer anymore so I trudged into the basement, threw on another layer, and grabbed my winter gloves. No more trainer unless it's raining. And maybe not even then. Maybe I'll bust out the duck boots and umbrella on those days.

The ride was cold. Surprised? It caught up to me about an hour in, which left me uncomfortable for about 25 minutes. It was a pretty low-key ride so no big sweats, no soaking clothes, thus I wasn't freezing. It was a beautiful morning but by the end I was happy to be in the house eating half of a sesame bagel and drinking a cup of coffee. Some days food & drink tastes better. Today that bagel and coffee was perfect.

The transition from basement to road before work is going to take some time. I managed it once last week and once this week. Those lights I bought 2 years ago are starting to pay off. The blinker Cliffy gave me is too. You know, I think I may have left the blinker on. Well at least nobody will run into my bike in the shed.

I have to remember to take the camera on these rides. Sunrise was gorgeous today. Since I don't have an actual picture of what I saw it looked sorta like this: