It’s cold out there. It was 16F when the ride was done, I think a little colder when I started an hour earlier.
The photograph is me with what I was wearing before the ride. I was a little optimistic about the temperature. By the time I had ridden 3/4 of a mile, I turned around because 3 body parts were already getting too cold.
- My face had too much exposed skin, with sunglasses not keeping the cold wind away from my forehead and eyes. I swapped my glasses for an extremely old pair of ski goggles.
- My hands were already chilling. I took off my lobster gloves and put on leather mittens over some thinsulate knit gloves.
- I was already losing heat with wind blowing across my torso. So I added a windbreaker beneath my bright yellow outer shell.
With those three changes, I was quite comfortable, even after an hour riding in the cold. The toe warmers attached to my Smartwool socks did an excellent job keeping my feet warm.
As chilly as this February was (more than 10 degrees below normal), I am still a full month of riding ahead of last year. I ended last March with 65.63 total miles YTD.
Today 11.42 miles. YTD 67.25 miles.