Saturday, January 02, 2010

Cold? Not yet.

So I finished up a ride with J-No this morning. Out the door at 4:45am to be greeted with -15 below temps and a -35 windchill. We rode on snow mobile trails up Douglas, over to Oronoco, across Lake Shady, and to Pine Island via trials by Hwy 52. A stop at Kwik Trip was needed for my partner where the locals were a little in awe, but actually seemed to recognize us from the paper. One guy asked me if it was cold. My answer, not yet. Rode back to Rochester with J-No slowing his pace to match my quickly reducing speed. I guess my workouts this week caught up with my legs.

Got home at 10:30am and was having a hard time with the heatwave of -10 and -24 windchill. Lessons learned, but confidence built. My clothing selection was almost right on, but some small changes with that and other gear should have me set. One piece of gear that did not work in the super cold temps was the camera.

The pictures are from a 4 hour ride earlier this week. It was 4 degrees with a -15 windchill. Rode to Oronoco and had to turn around after almost crossing all of Lake Shady.


JP has a problem with his heterosexuality, so a non-butt shot was in order.



I thought of the Dixie Chicks and their song "Wide Open Spaces" when I was rolling through here. Not that I like those nutjobs, just thought of their song.


Hi my name is.....my name is.....my name is.....ticka ticka, Lake Shady.


On the way back, just thought it looked cool.

BTW

6 comments:

J-No said...

Nice ride today. In true DBD fashion, I rationed Charly 3 fingers of tepid cider to sustain him on his journey home. I was home at 1100. No rest for me, I was showered and out the door in 20minutes. I'm getting some new wool socks. Warmer wool jersey did the trick. I'll save the Surly one for the coffee shops on my fixie.

Strange thing on the trail. I looked back and saw this guy in the middle of the trail with his hands down his pants. Probably normal for you Eastwood boys, but it was a new one for me.

I figure 2 more Saturdays before we shut it down. I'm not ready, but I'll deal with what I can control. Time to start finalizing the gear list.

rideonpurpose said...

hope pro II, "clickclickclickclickclcick"

dude 15 feet in front of me with hands down pants, "...."

hope pro II, "click click click click" (slowing)

dude 5' in front "..."

me "EXCUSE ME"

dude- slow turn with only one hand down pants



I'm enjoying riding since ya'll got in the paper- your fame has legitimized my showing up at random fastfood joints and gas stations despite the sub-zero temperatures.

Charly Tri said...

Yeah, I have not converted the camelback to true winter riding (hose down the sleeve) and was able to get only a little water in our whole trip. That, my earlier workouts, and being behind on calories (my unintentional fault) all contributed to my speed reduction. Thanks for slowing J. The cider treat helped a lot. I got really cold after leaving you which has happened before. The common theme? Lack of calories. Gotta keep that internal fire going.

Oh, leaving Kwik Trip was hard to warm up from and my frozen fingers were in very, very desperate need of warmth. Luckily J-No advised the hands in down the pants to do the trick. Not sure why he kept slowly saying "nice" and "work it".

It is still hard to believe we rode that long when it was that cold.

4x4 Champ '07,'08,'09 said...

I'm impressed Chucky. I didn't know you rode outside like this in the winter. I've pretty much given up on any indoor riding at all. Although I honestly will not ride in the sub zero range. But then I'm not riding a silly race in Northern MN.
FYI, I use Chamois Butter on my face for the really cold rides. I don't have a balaclava that covers my face enough. (note to self, always apply to face first...)

Pretty cool. You have given me new motivation.

jp said...

And JP thanks you for the "Ass-less" pictures.

J-No said...

The idea that you were thinking of a Dixie Chick's song is reason enough to have your man card revoked.

I'm going to watch my wife fold laundry. Naked. After she gets me something to drink.