a cold 28 degrees

connect.garmin.com/activity/67113454

it was a cold 28 degrees out this morning. normally, 28 wouldn't be all that bad. i'd think nothing of it, but today, with a strong northwest, it was cold...really cold. not that it made any real difference. i rode anyway. i just wasn't all that comfortable, especially toward the end of the ride when body parts started falling off. i exaggerate, but it was cold.

i rode today with two sets of lights. my regular bike headlight was on, shining down my narrow strip of asphalt, showing me the way. my running headlamp was on too. i put it around my thick skull, upsidedown just below the rim of my helmet over my balaclava so i could flip it on when i wanted to read my garmin. worked like a charm. i'm a genius, a humble one, of course!

the wind was a factor in more than one way. it chilled me and slowed me down quite a bit. i was creeping along more often than i would like to have been creeping along. i just couldn't get any speed against the stormy blast.

when i got to danville, i had time to continue on, but i turned around anyway. i just wasn't in the mood to risk another encounter with travis. not in the dark where his black fur gives him the upperhand. so i turned around and rode back toward town and then did a few u-turn out and backs to add the miles i wanted. the effort required to keep rolling west was considerably more than that required to keep going east.

i'm pleased that my back has returned to close to normal. makes life easier. (19.95 miles @ 14.3mph)