36 @ 20 degrees

The plan yesterday morning was to ride out to Cortland so Oly could enjoy a Fairbury brand hot dog, then ride back to Lincoln. A nice little jaunt, one both of us have made quite a few times this summer, as the Jamaica Me Crazy trail is pretty dang nice. Awoke, the phone said it was 15 degrees. It was right, unfortunately :).

Funny thing about it is that both was it cold, but also with a headwind. Which kind of sucked in a way, but not so much in others - meaning, it could have been worse.

Here's the interesting thing about riding - or any outdoor activity - in winter. You really have to balance what you are doing properly to avoid sweat, which seems weird and impossible (it is for me), but so true. I learned this while previously doing lots of hiking, sweat is your friend when it's warm - it cools you down, etc etc, but while cold it can quickly turn from keeping you regulated to keeping you in the E.R. Basically, you have to figure out a balance of clothing and effort that keeps you warm, but not too warm. From everything I've learned, this is impossible.

Anyway, it was a good ride, everything considered. The sun was out, the deer were out in volumes, and the trail was basically ours. I chose to ride the LHT at the last minute, as I figured that would allow me to expend less effort - and create less sweat - than the Hardrock would have. Completely forgot that it has a "new" Brooks on it, which normally would have stopped me from doing a long ride, but truth be told I didn't notice it at all. I can't say enough good things about the Brooks B-17. Seriously.

Oly rode his new Salsa Big Mamma, which replaced the Dos Niner frame those parts previously lived on, and oh man does it look good. If it rides as good as it looks, I don't blame him for how fond he seems to be of it. Of course the Jamaica seemed to be fond of it as well, blessing him with an inch of steel through the tire, claiming yet another tube. Happened right outside Princeton, and by the time we got to Princeton I was frozen and whining all about it, so we turned around.

The ride back was great, tailwind and the sun was up just enough to take the edge off the cold. My feet were pretty dang cold, which surprised me, I was wearing my Columbia Bugabootoo's which make my feet sweat if worn indoors. Regardless of what they previously did, by the time we were back in Lincoln the feet were cold. Oh, and the gloves continued to rock, they kept my hands temperate on the way out with the wind (not cold, but not hot either - "comfortable" is what I'd call it), and of course sweaty on the way back.. heh.

Overall, great weekend ride. I skipped Saturday to sleep in, and work, so it was good to make up some miles on Sunday. I keep inching closer and closer to the 4,000 mark for the year. Today it's supposed to start raining, then tomorrow morning I'm supposed to wake up to like 2 feet of snow. Sweet!

It's definitely going to take more than a couple feet of snow to stop me. The Hardrock is just itchin' for that kind of challenge.