Machka
The weatherpeople were WRONG!! The chinook blew out!!
That pretty much sums it up right there.
I decided to do a century today out near Sundre, AB ... because all week, the forecast for Sundre has been warm and lovely with highs anywhere between 8C and 12C.
I planned a challenging route - quite hilly. I figured it would be a good training ride!
First thing this morning, before I drove out to my start location, I checked the weather, and they were still predicting warm and lovely. Perfect!
I had a lovely drive, out there ... even saw a moose cross the road ... and got everything all set up to ride. It did seem a little chillier than I'd hoped, but the wind wasn't too bad, and the sun was shining brightly, and I figured it would warm up. After all, that is what it is supposed to do during the day!!
And within an hour or so, it did start to feel quite nice out there. I see now that's when the high for the day was reached ... 10:00 am.
By the time I got to Sundre, which was supposed be almost hot according to the forecasters, the wind had picked up quite a bit and it was decidedly chilly. How disappointing. However, it was just noon, and the temperature usually warms up in the afternoon.
Back to the starting point, and just as I arrived, I thought that it hadn't warmed up at all, but had rather become colder. My legs were quite cool. I see now that it was about -7C, but felt like -13C with the windchill.
In town, I felt all right, but I was standing in a sunny, sheltered spot while I ate and got ready for my second out-and-back ... northward this time. I still had high hopes for a warming trend, but by the time I reached Rocky Mountain House, my face felt like it was freezing off. I see now that it was -8C, with a windchill factor of -15C. No wonder I felt frozen!!
The rest of the way back to the starting point was into a SE wind ... and the temp continued to drop ... down to -11C, with a -17C windchill factor. Instead of warming up, the chinook blew out (several days early), and the temperature plummeted!!
My plan had been to ride briskly up the hills and then to rest on the way down ... but I <i>couldn't</i> just coast on the descents ... I was WAY too cold. I had to keep pedalling almost the whole way just to try to keep warm, and I couldn't go very fast. Imagine trying to fly down a hill at 40 km/h, into temps and a windchill factor like what I've mentioned above!!
With 17 kms to go, both my bottles froze solid ... a pretty good tip that it was a lot colder than I thought!!
I was dressed for chilly, because I thought it would start out that way ..... but I wasn't dressed for COLD!! Several hours later, I'm still chilled to the bone!!
Have you ever had a century where the elements viciously and cruelly turned on you??
Some photos of my ride ... see the March 4th section:
http://www.machka.net/photos.htm
That pretty much sums it up right there.
I decided to do a century today out near Sundre, AB ... because all week, the forecast for Sundre has been warm and lovely with highs anywhere between 8C and 12C.
I planned a challenging route - quite hilly. I figured it would be a good training ride!
First thing this morning, before I drove out to my start location, I checked the weather, and they were still predicting warm and lovely. Perfect!
I had a lovely drive, out there ... even saw a moose cross the road ... and got everything all set up to ride. It did seem a little chillier than I'd hoped, but the wind wasn't too bad, and the sun was shining brightly, and I figured it would warm up. After all, that is what it is supposed to do during the day!!
And within an hour or so, it did start to feel quite nice out there. I see now that's when the high for the day was reached ... 10:00 am.
By the time I got to Sundre, which was supposed be almost hot according to the forecasters, the wind had picked up quite a bit and it was decidedly chilly. How disappointing. However, it was just noon, and the temperature usually warms up in the afternoon.
Back to the starting point, and just as I arrived, I thought that it hadn't warmed up at all, but had rather become colder. My legs were quite cool. I see now that it was about -7C, but felt like -13C with the windchill.
In town, I felt all right, but I was standing in a sunny, sheltered spot while I ate and got ready for my second out-and-back ... northward this time. I still had high hopes for a warming trend, but by the time I reached Rocky Mountain House, my face felt like it was freezing off. I see now that it was -8C, with a windchill factor of -15C. No wonder I felt frozen!!
The rest of the way back to the starting point was into a SE wind ... and the temp continued to drop ... down to -11C, with a -17C windchill factor. Instead of warming up, the chinook blew out (several days early), and the temperature plummeted!!
My plan had been to ride briskly up the hills and then to rest on the way down ... but I <i>couldn't</i> just coast on the descents ... I was WAY too cold. I had to keep pedalling almost the whole way just to try to keep warm, and I couldn't go very fast. Imagine trying to fly down a hill at 40 km/h, into temps and a windchill factor like what I've mentioned above!!
With 17 kms to go, both my bottles froze solid ... a pretty good tip that it was a lot colder than I thought!!
I was dressed for chilly, because I thought it would start out that way ..... but I wasn't dressed for COLD!! Several hours later, I'm still chilled to the bone!!
Have you ever had a century where the elements viciously and cruelly turned on you??
Some photos of my ride ... see the March 4th section:
http://www.machka.net/photos.htm