I started riding after dark last night. I was expecting dark and cold. A few miles into the ride I had to stop and shuffle gear as I was melting. All of my layers were drenched. I ditched the balaclava and opened all vents on my jacket. I focused on re-hydrating after the ride because I sweated so much.
I sweated so much my gear was still wet when I put it on this morning. Pants, gloves, balaclava all still damp despite hang drying overnight. This wasn't a big deal on the ride in. I kept vents open and tried to stay cool. There was a bit of wind but the rain jacket is a great wind breaker layer. I still sweated more. Gear was even more wet.
This evening I donned my still wet gear and stated home in the daylight. The sun was out. It looked clear and bright. The forecast showed temps plunging as the sun set. I hear and say "clear and cold" but didn't have an appropriate acute memory of "clear and cold".
It was deceptively nice riding in the light. It "looked" nice but it didn't feel so nice. As the sun dipped so did the temps. It started at 45F and finished around 35F. It was supposed to be sprinkling. I didn't really see rain but there were splotches on the shoulders of my jacket. Rain, or dew, or just water condensing from the air was apparent on my shoulder. And it looked distinctly crystalline.
After a few cold dark stop signs and traffic lights I started thinking of cold not as a temperature or even a "heat index" but in my own unique measurement. It is 60. What is 60? 60 is the number of seconds I can stop peddling and stand still before the cold starts to creep in.
Last night I stopped and removed layers to cool down. Tonight I looked for opportunities to keep moving. Fortunately this helps me focus on pedal RPMs. The cold weather is really helping with pedal rate.
Until I get cold, dehydrated, and hungry.
Things started to come apart a bit tonight. I had a surplus of water - in my layers of clothing. When the temps plunged that water tended to cool when I stopped. I had to keep moving to keep the water against my skin warm.
Concurrently my water bottle ran out. I'm learning to drink in the cold. It's not natural. The balaclava covering my mouth doesn't help. I was focused on drinking to offset all the sweating. Then my source ran empty. My planned water stops were all unavailable. Water sources were closed, locked, or disabled for winter. Gotta practice better water planning.
And then there is food. The rule is "eat for any workout over an hour". My long way home takes about 1:15-1:30. I've been slacking on food for a variety of reasons. It's early in the season and I have weight to lose, cold doesn't inspire me to eat, the balaclava gets in the way, and food is a logistical challenge with all the extra cold weather gear. So I'm slacking. And now I've been riding consistently for a week. My body is waking up and remembering this routine. My body's recollection of this state involves high metabolism. Net result I'm not eating as I should, I'm pedaling particularly hard to keep warm, and my metabolism is tearing through calories like a kid does wrapping paper on Christmas morning. Did I mention I had a big salad for lunch? I supplemented that with a snickers bar. I felt like that was gone before I even changed clothes to start biking. I got hungry on the ride, arrived home hungry, and overate at dinner.
Things got a little frayed tonight. Hey, it's a learning opportunity.
Closing with top of mind items:
- Practice carrying water. 2x what I think i might need. And drink it.
- Get my moisture problem under control. Wet clothes get cold. Not to mention wet clothes mean more drinking. More drinking means carrying more water. At 8.3lbs/gallon that's not a light proposition.
- Increase my calorie intake in both quantity and quality. Healthy diet keeps me riding longer and stronger.
- I did some research into frame bags and water bladders. Gotta get on this. I'm setting a goal of this weekend to have a stake in the sand on these.
- My garmin is misbehaving. I upgraded and reset it tonight. I need to focus on GPS acquisition soon. I like this one for tracking mileage. I'd like to hit around 3k miles before June. With around 18 weeks left that puts me around 160 miles per week.
- I found a great couple hills to add into my route. Climbing++
