one for the record books

i hate zeros, so i had to get out and zap this year's place holder before it got too comfy. i woke up at 6:15 and headed to the computer to see what the weather was like. i saw the 7 at the bottom of the screen before i sat down. that was 5 degrees cooler than the predicted low! i brought up the weatherlab and confirmed the temp: 7 degrees. with even a slight breeze, that's cold! i almost went back to bed. i couldn't do it. the zero was there. it had to go.

i was so distracted by the 7 that remained on the screen the entire time i was dressing that i had to take off my shoes more than once to put on a layer i'd forgotten to pull on. first i put on my shoes without my second pair of socks. then i had to pull them off again to put on the second sock on my left foot. then i had to pull them and my shoe covers off to put on my wind pants. i finally got it right and got everything else in place. i was ready...sort of.

i felt great for the first block or two of this ride. the houses blocked the wind. my body was still enjoying the residual warmth of the 39 degree garage air. harsh reality had not yet burst the "this is going to be epic" bubble yet. i was happy! "happy new year, tree! happy new year, squirrel! watch out for cars! happy new year, wind!" i take that last one back.

the wind wasn't much to speak of, but it doesn't have to be gale force to cause problems when it's stupid cold out. it just has to puff and the wind chill drops four degrees.

last year i rode 20.10 miles to start out 2010, so i wanted to ride 20.11 miles to start out 2011 thus creating a tradition. i'm not a very traditional guy, but i like rites of passage like this. what could it hurt? i thought. turns out it could hurt nearly everything south of the hypothalamus. my fingers paid the highest price. i had to pull them out of their glove slots into the palm of the glove every other mile so they could snuggle with one another for warmth. that's not as easy to manage while rolling down the highway as it sounds.

i rode out to 10.05 miles and turned around. my average speed at that point was somewhere around 13.1mph. with the wind at my back, i actually gained a bit and ended my ride with an average a mile per hour faster than that. plunging down l'alpe d'anville i actually hit 28.3mph! pretty fast for a frigid day.

my 20.11 miles are logged now along with the 8 degree average temp. it was 9 when i got back. easy math! i had to create a new color code for the first time in years. since i'd never averaged in the single digits, a bold dark blue was all i needed. today i added a lighter, icy blue highlight to the temp cell. i hope i don't have to use that color code again for a good long time. i don't really want to set "coldest ride ever" PRs every day. monday's low is supposed to be in the 20s, so the future's looking good! (20.11 miles @ 14.1mph)