Insult to Injury

Let's make no mistake about the fact that I love to ride my bike. (I'm sure that was something that you were wondering about at this point.) However, even I have my limits.

We also have established the fact that I hate the cold. So, I've had to set my own personal threshold as to the temperature outside when it is too cold to ride. 38 degrees. That's it. Any colder, and my nose runs and snot freezes.

When I took Doug to school today at 9:15, I decided that I would ride IF the thermometer met my conditions. My car said it was 39. Off I went.

What my car doesn't tell me is windspeed / windchill. There was virtually no wind by my house. That changed about the time I got into Highland.

Suddenly, I experienced the same thing on my bike that I had in cleaning my house yesterday-- working my butt off and making VERY little progress. It's bad enough to be going uphill, but to have the wind AND gravity pushing you down is just a slap in the face.

My plan was to get into Alpine and climb the Matterhorn hill. I was lucky to get to the roundabout just past the "Welcome to Alpine" sign before giving up on my northward trek. To add insult to injury, when I climbed into Alpine, the thermostat dropped 6 degrees-- well below my Good-Riding Threshold and into booger-freezing territory. In the process of trying to remedy the situation, my tissue flew out of my hand and I was left with booger-cicles for the rest of my ride. (You're welcome for not posting a picture of that one.)

I keep trying to remind myself that riding in the wind just means that I burn more calories. There's got to be an easier way. . .