November 19th (Morning)

-8° this morning! YIKES!!! And with the windchill, it said it felt like -15°…. UFF…. DA…

However, last night Corrie and I dug out all of our winter gear. First thing we noticed was how many pairs of gloves I have, and how many toques the boys have!!! We really need to donate some of these items this year… Anyways, I found a pair of lined track pants, a fleece jacket as well as a nice toque that came down low over my ears, and yet still fit under my helmet (sort of!).

So, this morning after about an HOUR of getting dressed (obviously I’m exaggerating there), I headed out to brave the elements that had sent me running for cover yesterday morning. And I was warm! By the time I got to the traffic circle, I was still toasty warm which made me think I had now layered TOO much… My face was quite frozen, but the rest of me was warm and they say you should be slightly chilled when you leave. I was not… Sure enough, by the time I got to Rose Hill, my face had become accustomed to the cold but I was started to burn up inside with the fleece! My arms and neck were very warm! I unzipped my jackets low to my chest which helped a bit.

I continued with walking a few of the hills to get the blood flowing back into my fingers and toes, and to keep my body temperature down. This did help for sure, but seeing as how this entire route is basically one big climb, it was pretty tough to keep my temperature down! Pretty soon, I was sweating underneath the layers pretty heavily. Physically I felt pretty good, but I wasn’t really pushing any limits today in that department to be sure!

At the top of Peterson’s Creek valley, the snow starting flying around pretty good, making the streets a bit iffy. I took a fairly easy pace on the streets, not wanting to test my tires’ cornering limits. As I got to the top of Howe Road up at the trailer park, I was pretty warm and all that sweating turned around and bit me on the stretch across Pineview as the cold wind cut through my now wet layers, making for a bit of a painful final stretch!

So, with a thinner fleece and maybe a balaclava and goggles instead of a toque, I think I might have the perfect set up to continue riding! I will go at lunch today to Wholesale Sports, or maybe Canadian Tire to pick up these two items (balaclava and goggles) and  I think I’ll be set! SWEET! I think I have just extended my riding season ‘till probably -15° or so!

Now I just need to figure out how to keep my water in liquid form…