Fifty Plus (50+) - It's nasty out there

I guess I'm not riding today. This is unusual for DC but at least our senators have to work today:
http://www.heffernans.org/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=66001&g2_serialNumber=1

Looks a bit worse than we have got but mountain biking tomorrow. Got to see if my son- in- law can still fall off a bike.

Still no snow here west of Toronto. Figures, bought a new snow blower this year.

I wish we were getting that here in Chattanooga. I love riding in snow.

That storm is just passing us by to the East a bit. Lucky us!! That looks to be wet, heavy, snow.

My daughter flew in from L.A. yesterday evening with a lay-over in Philly.If she came through 24 hrs. later and she would most likely be snowed in at the airport!

This situation calls for massive energy taxes, plus huge tax-payer-financed subsidies to despotic third world nations.

I kinda wish it would snow a lot harder in D.C. these days.

why not?http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f66/kr32/010-1.jpg
I am going back out later this evening. Should be fun and quiet.
One thing is Monday going to work should not be too bad like if this was to happen on Sunday late.

This situation calls for massive energy taxes, plus huge tax-payer-financed subsidies to despotic third world nations.

I kinda wish it would snow a lot harder in D.C. these days.

If it never snowed here again I would not be upset at the least.

Snow, snow go away..............fall on someone else today.




oh, and tomorrow too of course.

About time our Senators are "working!"

Anyway, rode today in 35 degree weather with winter mix.

There was one benefit: I didn't have to worry about some roadie yelling out "On you left!".

Today we had our monthly Coffee Shop bike ride. It is a short ride around town for the people that simply like to ride and just perhaps would like some coffee and pie as a reward. While I was talking to a couple that I have ridden with before I mentioned a deal I got on Champion base layers at Target. The wife reached into her rack pack and displayed some rain gear she had there. She said target may supply base layers but they didn’t supply proper rain gear. I said I only need a cell phone for rain gear so I can call for my wife to come and get me and she just laughed. Her husband assured me she was one of those Californians that like riding in the rain; he also mentioned she enjoyed it a lot more than he did.
To me today was good riding weather. The temperature was between 55 and 70 and there was little or no wind. I have absolutely no interest in riding in the freezing cold with snow on the ground. That is why they invented 4 wheel drive and heaters.
Does seem as if this is putting a crimp in the global warming statistics. Guess this is just another year they have to toss because it skews their averages.

All we got here in Raleigh is a short burst of snow followed by rain. It will warm up to the 40s tomorrow. I need to take a ride, winter weight is starting to accumulate.

i was out yesterday @ 19f for my 6.5 mile loop, beyond that my toes get to cold! not to much snow just north of hartford ct today. the roads might clear up, i am not to keen on sharing a very narrow plowed road with a car that can not stop. i started riding back in oct when i got my 37 year old 10 speed tuned up and riding. i started just for the exercise but have already turned the old 5 spd to an 8 spd with flat bars and picked up a 1992 hybrid in what appears to garage worn condition. last week fenders went on the 10 spd to ward off all the sand and salt on the road. i am all set for some more winter riding if the roads are clear.

I guess I'm not riding today. This is unusual for DC but at least our senators have to work today:
http://www.heffernans.org/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=66001&g2_serialNumber=1

I think we would all be better off if they stayed home and worked ALOT less!:twitchy:

Looks a bit worse than we have got but mountain biking tomorrow. Got to see if my son- in- law can still fall off a bike.

He can and so can I.

The pic was taken with me on my backside as I fell about 5 seconds after him. If I hadn't laughed at his misfortune- I might have away weith it.

Up here in British Columbia it got very cold for a couple of weeks (down to minus 6 Celsius, which for us is cold), then warmed up to plus 6 C and rain, which it is doing today. I plan on going out for a couple of hours today, probably wearing two rain jackets over a long-sleeve jersey.
I think you actually get colder in wet weather than in freezing dry conditions. I'll usually carry an extra pair of dry gloves when riding in winter rain.
The only benefit of riding in these conditions is that it makes you one hell of a tough rider. I understand that it rained during the 2007 Paris-Brest-Paris. Most of the wimps from the southern US pulled out after one or two nights of constant rain. I don't think anyone from BC quit!
Back when I was racing, the yardstick I used for toughness was Sean Kelly. Someone asked him how bad the conditions had to be to cancel a training ride, and he said "how do you know how bad it was unless you were out riding?" If I thought about not going out training in the rain, I would think of all the tough Belgians plugging away in the cold and windy North Sea storms.
But now having said this, I have to admit that my preferece is for racing on the track. There, they are smart enough to not make you race in the rain. The worst thing about racing in the rain is cleaning off all the mud and crap afterwards!
- L.

I just walked the dogs to the park and passed our not quite a Congress Person (Delegate) Eleanor Holmes Norton's house. As we came up DW said, I wonder if she is getting special treatment (e.g. plowing or whatever). To our chagrin, there she was shoveling the walk herself.

We had 8-10 inches last yesterday and it is snowing lightly right now.

This is no lie. I am building a shrine to my 35 year old Toro snowthrower! The thing should be in the "They don't make em like that any more" Museum. I have owned it for about 10 years and am the third owner. Old Faithful came through again saving my bum shoulder further punishment. Wish the rest of the stuff you buy was as reliable.

Wish we had that snow. Tried to skateski today. There were bare patches.
I live at 9000 feet in the Rockies. The snow is going to be late this year.

It's bad all over. I'm looking at two feet here...

It was nice here over the weekend with some gentle Santa Ana condition winds and temps in the mid 70's and lots of sun with only the occasional clouds. I got in a ride on Sat. and Sun. and it felt so good to be warm with only shorts / jersey and a jacket to start.

Today it's overcast, much colder (58 deg. F) and not so good. It will probably be about the same for our 2nd Christmas Lights ride tomorrow evening. Oh well, I'll bundle up and not complain!

Rick / OCRR

Up here in British Columbia [...] I think you actually get colder in wet weather than in freezing dry conditions [....]

I understand that it rained during the 2007 Paris-Brest-Paris. Most of the wimps from the southern US pulled out after one or two nights of constant rain. I don't think anyone from BC quit.

That's right Luis. It's hard to dress for driving rain and cold, compared to dry cold. The former often leads to hypothermia in short order ... which is what happened to many riders at PBP '07 -- hailing from every latitude. While preparation (clothing, etc.) played a part, no one who wasn't there is qualified to call those who bailed in '07 "wimps." I saw young, virile men and women completely incapacitated by the terrible conditions, carried away in ambulances.

Though I am an experienced inclement weather rider (http://www.veloweb.ca/storypages/slipslidin.html) and it wasn't the weather that directly defeated me, I was just one of 10 British Columbia DNFs (of 41 BC entrants) at PBP '07.

It is hard to impart to those unfamiliar with the sport the physical demands of randonneuring in such conditions. If you are having trouble eating, your sleep plans are disrupted by bad timing, crowded controls, mechanical troubles, etc. and then you spend days shivering in wet clothes, develop trench foot (who didn't?) and then you get, say, the dreaded Napoleon's revenge -- what then?

I abandoned at 700km with severe Shermer's neck -- a condition I'd only previously heard of in rando lore. Anyone who survived any distance in '07 is no wimp my friend and only someone without the experience would blithely cast such an insult.

There are many amazing stories of survival from the last PBP from those who finished and from those who didn't. I encourage readers to Google a few; they make for good reading. A few super-humans seemed to take it all in stride. Most found it to be the hardest test of their lives. Indeed, it was the worst weather the area -- and the event -- had seen in over 50 years. Mere mortals can learn something from all survivors of PBP '07 who persevered -- whether they finished or not.

There were no wimps among them.

There were no wimps among them.

Oh sure there were.

Enough of the glowing faux-platitudes for failure so endemic to our age. I get so tired of hearing that “everybody is a success,” or “it’s not your fault.” This is the root of the problem in North America, that people have this sense of entitlement. We’re all supposed to make everybody feel good about themselves, whether they deserve it or not.

The coldest I’ve ever been on the bike was in a rainy road race in the interior of British Columbia back in the late 80’s. I had punctured early on, had received a new wheel, and chased back to the pack, so I had taken off the rain jacket and was only wearing two layers (polypro and long jersey). Because it was so cold and wet, nobody attacked, so we rolled for a couple of hours at pretty slow speeds (this was a masters race). I had an excuse to sit in – I was leading the stage race, it was a flat parcours, and I was the fastest sprinter in the group. But after the race, my teeth were chattering and I was wrapped in blankets with my feet in a bucket of warm water for about half an hour before I got back to normal body temperature.

I think that this type of experience puts you through a threshold, where the exploit teaches you something about yourself and gives you the knowledge for dealing with this type of thing in the future. This showed me that a lot of hardship can be dealt with just by putting your head down and suffering through it. People are always impressed by thrill-seeking adventurers who climb mountains and cross Antarctica, but I think that the real heroes are people who ride their bikes to work every day in every kind of weather. It takes a lot of mental strength to just get on your bike in the morning day after day, with rain, snow, and ice covering the cold, dark streets. And where the fruits of this mental strength become evident is in situations like P-B-P 2007, where the guys who have been thru the threshold treat the ride like any other day, while those with the sense of entitlement are caught unprepared and have to wimp out. A fancy carbon fiber frame and aero wheels only take you so far. After that, it’s up to you. I sneer at the expensive bikes!

Hey, this is what I love about cycling. Deep down, at its core, it’s always been a sport for hard men (and women). That’s why they invent stuff like Paris-Brest-Paris. And when you miss a difficult one like 2007, I feel like the “gentlemen in England now-abed,” who “think themselves accurs'd they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speak” from Shakespeare’s speech of Henry V at Agincourt. What a great opportunity for heroic deeds. How could anyone quit something as glorious as this?

- L.

"This is the root of the problem in North America, that people have this sense of entitlement. We’re all supposed to make everybody feel good about themselves, whether they deserve it or not."

You're just bitter 'cause you didn't get a Nobel Peace Prize too.

13 degrees F. Winds gusting to 40 mph. Steady snow. Santa is a hearty soul indeed tonight! Pics are from my front porch.

I moved from Md.(Baltimore suburbs) to Louisville 6 years ago. While I miss many things, that much snow isn't one of them!