16°F this morning. This is NOT your average mid-November morning. In fact, Ed's Forecast of an 18°F low led me to scramble to my Cold Weather Gear log. "What in the blue blazes was I wearing last time it was below 20?!" I couldn't recall. I've been pretty comfortable lately, having found a good clothing combination for the high-30s and 40s we'd been experiencing.
There are 27 work days left this year, and I've got a little more than 450 miles to go to reach my goal. I've been plugging numbers into this equation I came up with to track how many full commutes I'll need to do:
(($RoundTripsLeft * (- $BusStopMiles)) + $MilesToGoal) / ( $FullTripMiles - $BusStopMiles)
In my case:
53 round trips are left this year
2.5 miles to the bus stop
14.5 miles all the way to work
456 miles to goal
I'll spare you the math. I have to ride the full trip 27 more times this year. The way this function works, I can also deduce that for every 12 miles of recreation or errand miles I ride, I "earn" one bus commute worth of breathing room.
While I did feel like a bit of a bad-ass this morning as I cut through the crisp air and rode past rimy fixtures and parked cars on Merriam Drive, I'll save my swagger (or is it hubris?) for the day I finally hit 5,000 miles for 2008... assuming that day comes. I've got my eyes on the prize.
Oh, and I really, really should have used the "Bag Corners" trick (that I learned from reading Warren's blog) this morning. I doubled up on socks and it wasn't quite enough.
Friday, November 21, 2008
A taste of winter
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
6 comments:
Something's amiss. It was in the mid-30's here in Austin this morning. I know, I can hear all of the violins playing songs of pity for me. I grew up in Florida and have been here over 10 years and I just don't do cold which I define as anything below 80. :-)
Glad I wasn't the only one having issues with the cold toes!
I dug out my neoprene booties which has saved my toes as the temperature dropped to 20 in Boston this week. Unfortunately, it's back to where my real problem ends up being my fingers -- anyone found any magic gloves? :)
13'F here this morning. Yep, not our typical mid-Novrmbrt weather either. Feels like Jan. Did a Single Speed ride in the Nature Preserve across the road this A.M. 2 laps(2&1/2 miles or so total) was all I could handle as I didn't have my winter riding boots on. I sympathiize over the cold toes.
It was 46 Degrees during my usual cycling commute time here in Houston. Needless to say it's well below the comfort range of any of my cycling gear. Last year I had already hung it up for commuting for the season by now opting instead to road bike in the park.
I haven't ridden in two weeks since the lows started to drop into low 50s mid 40's and also in part due to a family tragedy. I just need one 15 miler to break last years record. (I'll get it just in time if I can milk one more work commute or a couple grocery store runs.) I'm also planning to augment my gear to tolerate this deeper dip in temperature.
Whomever was claiming the Earth is warming due greenhouse gasses needs to have their clothes stolen and forced to ride cross town in this mid 40's weather! Global Warming my A$$! All these paid off Environmental Scientists need to kiss me where I got CHOCOLATE!
I can't believe you rode this morning. Keep your motivation up, you can do it. I'm off to Bangkok today, I will be wishing for some of this cold weather soon.
My cold weather gloves are for cold storage workers, the brand name is ironclad summit, at iclad.com.
Post a Comment