Riding...

I went riding yesterday and today.

Yesterday, I left the house, it was gray outside, and threatening to snow. I figured, eh, what the hell. If it starts to snow, I'll just turn around and come home. 2 hours later, I came in the house, covered head to toe in the white stuff, and with cold water. Turns out, the thing that happens in North Carolina is that the road crews go out, and brine the roads before it snows, so when it hits, it melts. Which makes for, yes, some wet roads. Add snow, you get me, riding out in it, and almost as cold as I've ever been on a bike. There was only one other time when I was colder.

March, 2002, Greenville, SC Spring Series race. It was the first race of the season, and as we arrived at the race site, it was cold, and gray. I paid my money, get my number, kitted up, and almost as soon as I did, it started raining. Since I was out "warming" up, and getting soaked anyway, I figured, might as well start the race. Holy Hell what a mistake that was. 14 miles into the race, I had to stop, and then pry my hands from the bars. Why? I was so cold my hands were locked onto the bars. I went to the car, changed in the downpour that was going on, got into my car, started it, turned the heat on high, and sat there for about 2 hours, and never warmed up. I had several people who had raced get into my car with me, and they all had to leave in about 2 minutes or less, because it was too hot in there. Anyone who knows me, knows that I don't get that cold, ever. 2 hours, and I still wasn't warm. I didn't properly warm up until I got into the shower that night, for about an hour, in the hotel room. The upside, is that I slept like a rock that night.

When I got home from the ride yesterday, I had to do the pry the hands of the bars thing. Got undressed on the mat in front of our side door because I was soaking wet, put on my flannel PJs and hoodie, and then sat on the couch arms wrapped around myself for about 20 minutes. Why did I wait? Well, my feet were so cold that I had to wait for them to thaw a little bit before I got into the shower, or else, immense pain would have ensued. The wife came home, saw me on the couch, and wondered if I was OK. The shower yesterday, took about 30 minutes, and even though we're in a drought, I ran out the hot water. Sorry about that. I had to do it, and when I got out, I was more or less warmed back up. Good times when it's cold AND wet. 

I did ride today again, and it was around 25 degrees or so this afternoon when I left, but it was dry, so, it wasn't that bad. The feet got kind of cold, but that's par for the course for me, even with booties, and shoe covers on there. Not a problem. I'm used to it. It was nice out there though for the most part. Sunny, and a little icy in spots, but overall not bad. Compared to the day before, it was downright plush out there.

Tomorrow, don't know what I'm going to do tomorrow. It'll probably be on the trainer tomorrow night. I hates the trainer.