The thermometer on the sheltered and covered back porch was at a solid 30 this AM. Oh sure - you folks who actually get real winters can mock me, but lemme tell you, the high-wicking properties of my gloves had me sufferin’… Actually rode for a while with my arms crossed in front of me, trying to get feeling back into my fingers by holding them under my armpits. I’m not sure that’s an RUSA-approved means for cycling, and it only kinda worked. The best solution was hitting the actual sunlight and finally turning so that the wind from the steppes came from behind. Right now, at 10 pm or so, they are still tingling a little.
But, I did try out a couple things today - first, as it’s a required piece of gear for twilight hours - I used the flecto-vest. No suprises there, other than realizing I wouldn’t be able to easily work the front zipper for my vest. Luckily the weather negated any real need for venting today.
So, that’s a reflection of the flecto-vest, with my 2 piece balaklava (created by overlapping a neck gaiter and my wool cap), as well as Tashi snuffling around to see if I dropped any food.
The other new thing was my Pearl Izumi Calientoes - 
with Tashi still snuffling…
I think the toes worked OK - my feet were cold for the most part while my hands were frickin’ freezing. So, I think the fleecey toe-condoms seem to have a beneficial effect.
Other than that, the ride was pretty uneventful - although there were many egregious examples of cycling idiocy for some reason — group rides fanning out across the bike path as if there were no possible way any cyclist could be going the other direction (nothing like a near bar-hook to get the blood flowing), other groups spreading out four wide on main roads when there’s enough room for two (and they weren’t going that fast anyway) holding up traffic. The best one was the idjit who figured I had stopped at the stop sign in downtown San Anselmo for no good reason and blew through it, narrowly missing becoming a hood ornament on the oncoming left turning vehicle who had no stop sign. He then proceed to slalom through stopped cars up ahead and almost became intimate with two people in the crosswalk. I dunno, maybe he had one of those chemical handwarmers slide down into his chamois…
January 14th, 2007 at 12:29 am what are you doing up so late? Did you see on my LJ how many people read both our blogs? Crazy small world. I am dealing with the cold by not leaving the house, for the record.
January 14th, 2007 at 7:25 am I think the thing is tagging an hour late - it was before 11… I’ll have to see if I can get that reset. It was a kick to see how many people read both. Doesn’t feel as cold this AM, though maybe I’m gettng used to it - hope the orchids weather this OK.