November 8th (Morning)

Another RECORD time this morning! By only about 30 seconds, but a record nonetheless. Pretty cool, too, when you factor in that it was my coldest ride yet (-2°), which means my time through Juniper was slower than usual as it was too flippin’ COLD to get going too fast.

But, again, another great Monday ride. Strange, but I used to have my great rides on Mondays before too. Then, over the summer, it wasn’t so anymore. No all of a sudden, my Mondays are my good rides again. Whatever, it’s after rides like this when I really enjoy what I’m doing and want to keep riding through even the cold stuff.

Also, it was Daylight Savings Time this weekend. This means that instead of riding into work in the dark, I got to ride in the daylight again for the first time in a long time! It was cool to ride these trails again with great visibility. I managed a really good speed (49km/h) down the first valley after Rose Hill road, took the “cliff” down again (although I do that in the dark) and made the dip/corner section of single-track where I haven’t made it since riding with my light.

I also picked up a pair of Head winter gloves from Costco on Friday. Actually, it was pretty awesome as there were only two pairs left and one was a small and one was a large… Not to mention the fact that when she rang it up I also got a instant rebate of $4 applied! Which means these awesome gloves that were already a great price at $20, I snagged for $16! Nice!

However, my hands were still cold today. Granted, only the very tips ended up being frozen by the end of the ride, so that is an improvement over my entire finger being frozen with my other gloves. And it was below freezing today as well. The gloves are a bit of overkill, I think, as they cover up about 3 inches or so past my wrists, making my wrists very warm. Strange when my fingers are freezing, the rest of my hand can be sweating… Jeepers! Another downside to these gloves is that the inside lining slides around inside the outer shell slightly, meaning that I don’t feel like I have great control even though I’m gripping tightly. However, I don’t have much control when my fingers are frozen either, so it’s one or the other!

I felt pretty good on the climbs today. I focused on my pedaling efficiency a bit, trying to ensure that I was pulling and pushing. I’ve had these clipless pedals now for quite some time, and yet I still haven’t managed to get the pulling motion as second nature yet and have to think about doing it. Hopefully that will come soon, as it definitely makes for a faster climbing effort!