Machka
03-22-04, 11:19 PM
Never say "never". February 2003, I completed a bitterly cold century in 15 hours and 15 minutes and when I got off the bicycle I said I would never do another century where the starting temperature was below -20C/-4F.
6:25 am, dressed and ready to go, I rolled my loaded mtn bike out into the early dawn. It was -21C/-6F. Amazingly though, there was next to no wind! The forecasters had said the wind would be light, or even calm ... and unbelievably they were right. This was particularly astounding because we've had 50-80km/h winds complete with wind warnings for a couple days now, and wind is very common in the spring on the prairies.
Within a few minutes I discovered something that was to become a problem through most of the ride. It seems my new hydration system leaks. By the time I had gone 10 kms, my entire backside, and the trunk bag behind me had large clumps of ice all over it. However, I was pressed for time, so I kept riding.
I cycled around the outside of the city (on the Perimeter) to a place where I was to meet my cycling partner for the day, a young, enthusiastic "newbie". He was there waiting for me, but I took a moment to make some adjustments to my hydration system so it wouldn't keep leaking. Unfortunately just as we set off I discovered that I hadn't closed the mouth piece properly and I had a waterfall down the front of me. One good thing about -21C/-6F is that water on the outside of clothing freezes solid within a minute or two. I rode the remainder of the ride literally coated in ice. The whole front of my jacket was frozen, the front of my wind pants had ice crystals all over, and I had brought kleenexes which I put into one pocket - they were frozen into one large ice cube. My bicycle also had a thick shiney coating of ice all over the frame.
We continued on around the the city, then took a little out and back off-shoot to add to the mileage a bit. We stopped at a little grocery store where I had to buy something more to drink. My waterbottle was completely frozen, and my hydration system wasn't working very well. It continued to be pretty cold, but aside from that, there still wasn't much wind, and the sun was shining brightly.
We reached the part where we were heading north around the city and discovered that the wind was picking up a little bit, and it was from the south. That was a beautiful section! We just sailed along and I think we were both feeling pretty good.
That didn't continue! We headed up another little off-shoot to add more mileage, and that seemed like a very LONG section. At the end, where we would be turning around, was a restaurant, and we were more than ready for real food. I don't recall it being so far up there before!! After a wonderful stop which I really needed, we headed back. By this time the temperature had come up to about -8C/18F and there were even puddles where there had been ice before. I started to thaw a little bit which made me rather damp - not so good. The way back to the Perimeter seemed to take half the time as the trip up.
Back onto the Perimeter, and this time we were into a bit of a headwind. I was all right for a while, and then about 25 kms/15 miles from the end . . . suddenly I wanted to be done. I was tired. I just felt like curling up by the side of the road and sleeping. I drank another can of Ensure, and pushed on, going slower and slower. By about 15 kms/9 miles to go. I was actually beginning to think of sending my newbie cycling partner ahead to call for a cab for me. I'm not sure what was going on! I've felt better on most of my longer rides!! Perhaps it was the cold, maybe it was the fact that I was riding my large, heavy mtn bike, could have been that I was fairly dehydrated, or I might have been mildly hypothermic . . . I'm not sure. However, I struggled on for the next 13 kms/8 miles. And then with about 2 kms to go . . . I got my energy back!!! I felt great!
After stopping briefly to chat near where I live, my newbie cycling partner continued on his way home. I had arranged the route so that we would both end up with pretty close to the same amount of mileage even though we did a couple slightly different sections. I ended up with 169.82 kms/105.52 miles!! Time: 11 hours 15 minutes.
When I got in I discovered that the wind had some up, and although the temperature was a fairly nice -8C/18F, the windchill factor was -14C/6F. As I walked through the door of my apartment I started just shaking!! I couldn't get out of my wet and frozen clothing fast enough and into a nice hot tub. I'm not usually a bath person, but this time it just seemed very right.
PS. My newbie cycling partner rode an old beat-up steel bicycle which he had converted to a single speed (42x16) ... and this was his first century. Cool! He'll make a great Randonneur.
6:25 am, dressed and ready to go, I rolled my loaded mtn bike out into the early dawn. It was -21C/-6F. Amazingly though, there was next to no wind! The forecasters had said the wind would be light, or even calm ... and unbelievably they were right. This was particularly astounding because we've had 50-80km/h winds complete with wind warnings for a couple days now, and wind is very common in the spring on the prairies.
Within a few minutes I discovered something that was to become a problem through most of the ride. It seems my new hydration system leaks. By the time I had gone 10 kms, my entire backside, and the trunk bag behind me had large clumps of ice all over it. However, I was pressed for time, so I kept riding.
I cycled around the outside of the city (on the Perimeter) to a place where I was to meet my cycling partner for the day, a young, enthusiastic "newbie". He was there waiting for me, but I took a moment to make some adjustments to my hydration system so it wouldn't keep leaking. Unfortunately just as we set off I discovered that I hadn't closed the mouth piece properly and I had a waterfall down the front of me. One good thing about -21C/-6F is that water on the outside of clothing freezes solid within a minute or two. I rode the remainder of the ride literally coated in ice. The whole front of my jacket was frozen, the front of my wind pants had ice crystals all over, and I had brought kleenexes which I put into one pocket - they were frozen into one large ice cube. My bicycle also had a thick shiney coating of ice all over the frame.
We continued on around the the city, then took a little out and back off-shoot to add to the mileage a bit. We stopped at a little grocery store where I had to buy something more to drink. My waterbottle was completely frozen, and my hydration system wasn't working very well. It continued to be pretty cold, but aside from that, there still wasn't much wind, and the sun was shining brightly.
We reached the part where we were heading north around the city and discovered that the wind was picking up a little bit, and it was from the south. That was a beautiful section! We just sailed along and I think we were both feeling pretty good.
That didn't continue! We headed up another little off-shoot to add more mileage, and that seemed like a very LONG section. At the end, where we would be turning around, was a restaurant, and we were more than ready for real food. I don't recall it being so far up there before!! After a wonderful stop which I really needed, we headed back. By this time the temperature had come up to about -8C/18F and there were even puddles where there had been ice before. I started to thaw a little bit which made me rather damp - not so good. The way back to the Perimeter seemed to take half the time as the trip up.
Back onto the Perimeter, and this time we were into a bit of a headwind. I was all right for a while, and then about 25 kms/15 miles from the end . . . suddenly I wanted to be done. I was tired. I just felt like curling up by the side of the road and sleeping. I drank another can of Ensure, and pushed on, going slower and slower. By about 15 kms/9 miles to go. I was actually beginning to think of sending my newbie cycling partner ahead to call for a cab for me. I'm not sure what was going on! I've felt better on most of my longer rides!! Perhaps it was the cold, maybe it was the fact that I was riding my large, heavy mtn bike, could have been that I was fairly dehydrated, or I might have been mildly hypothermic . . . I'm not sure. However, I struggled on for the next 13 kms/8 miles. And then with about 2 kms to go . . . I got my energy back!!! I felt great!
After stopping briefly to chat near where I live, my newbie cycling partner continued on his way home. I had arranged the route so that we would both end up with pretty close to the same amount of mileage even though we did a couple slightly different sections. I ended up with 169.82 kms/105.52 miles!! Time: 11 hours 15 minutes.
When I got in I discovered that the wind had some up, and although the temperature was a fairly nice -8C/18F, the windchill factor was -14C/6F. As I walked through the door of my apartment I started just shaking!! I couldn't get out of my wet and frozen clothing fast enough and into a nice hot tub. I'm not usually a bath person, but this time it just seemed very right.
PS. My newbie cycling partner rode an old beat-up steel bicycle which he had converted to a single speed (42x16) ... and this was his first century. Cool! He'll make a great Randonneur.