Guest

This has to be one of the seven signs of the apocalypse or something!

Today was one of the best days ever- I rode for hours this morning, then dragged myself into class to teach my cycling class this afternoon. I know I was supposed to be working on my taxes, but I just couldn't resist. I loved it, even though it was a bit windy, so harder on the legs.

We're supposed to have warm weather until the end of the week. I'm telling you, I'd rather have bad weather now and great weather for the weekend. I'm not looking forward to cold, rainy days at the end of this week!

Anyone else experiencing this incredible phenomenon? <besides ChrisL, of course! >

Koffee

Chris L

I'd just about be reaching for the arm-warmers in that temperature.

Guest

Ha ha...

Too funny Chris. Come on over and bring your bike. I've got arm warmers for you from a real winter we've had here!

Waldo

Went with the arm warmers this morning...then it turned into a heck of a day. These winds have been crazy though. Yesterday on a group ride we didn't go below 27 for 3 miles and then turned around and were lucky to do 16. My commute home was 5 mph faster than when I went in this morning-I go into the wind on the way in and with it on the way home.

Prosody

89 degrees F. (31 or so degrees C.) in St. Louis area today. This afternoon was the first ride in months I've come home from dripping. For the next few weeks I'll be happy to see the warmer weather. I'll be more willing to get up early on weekends for long rides. Don't ask about the warm weather in August, though.

Guest

I love warm weather- I never turn it down, no matter what month of the year! In fact, August is one of my favorite riding months. It's so hot, and you get so sweaty, and you think "eeeewwwww", but at the same time, you know September is right around the corner with cooler weather, so I really appreciate the heat and everything. I actually go farther and faster in August than in the other months. Go figure.

It's a nice day today, but the winds are outrageous right now. I'm just finishing up my taxes this morning, then I have an aerobics class to teach at noon, then I'll be riding from noon to about 5, then a 5:30pm class tonight. I'm only riding hard because I have the next two days off and then a tough weekend of colder weather and rain to get through on some long rides with my new riding partner.

KB

Guest

Mommy!

I just checked the wind- it's 20 miles per hour! I'm not crazy- I'm still doing the ride, but I'm not going out as far as I thought I'd go, since I have to be back in the city by 5pm in order to teach. It's probably going to take me at least 2 hours to fight the wind getting there, and the winds are from the northeast.... brrrrrrrr....

Ok, I'm going to crawl in the corner and ball myself up into a fetal position and suck my thumb and mentally prepare for this upcoming ride!

Koffee

RegularGuy

Ain't it great? I put in a tough 50 miles on Sunday afternoon. Tough because of the south wind, my early season lack of conditioning, and the lack of corn...tall corn is an excellent wind break.

Tomorrow its supposed to rain. Think I'll go ride now.

bfong

Koffee,

I might see you on the lakefront today.
Bill F.

Guest

Funny thing, Bill- I decided to get off the lakefront at Irving Park Road (starting from Monroe and Wabash) and jump onto Broadway and then go north to the North Shore Trail. So you probably wouldn't have seen me, since I left at about 1:30pm and got back at about 4:30pm.

It was a great day, wasn't it? I'm not looking forward to tomorrow at all, but at least it's my rest day, so no problems there.

Maybe another time, although by the end of the month, I'll be through with the lakefront trail until about the end of September. Too many fools out there in tank tops, bikinis, etc., or they got kids, dogs, etc. with them, and it's not worth the injuries to fight the riff-raff.

See ya around!

KB

wabbit

It was supposed to get to about 21C (about 70f) here in montreal today- exceptionally warm and near record for this date, but it only got to about 15 (about 60). It rained and was really humid. Tomorrow, though, the temp is supposed to drop during the day to about 32 and then below freezing tomorrow night, so we could get snow flurries! Probably nothing to worry about, it won't last and the temps will rebound later in the week. It's so unpredictable this time of year! Last night we had LIGHTNING AND THUNDER!

I actually remember one april, when I was in grade school it was in the low 80s! I think that record still stands. It was during easter vacation. And this was quite a while ago, so it's not like we thought of it as global warming.

Guest

Hey- don't knock global warming! It's good for the cycling!

Seriously, we've been breaking records. Today, it was about 29C. Yesterday, it was 28C. Tomorrow, it's only supposed to be about 13C. Go figure.

I rode like a mad woman today, even though the wind just beat me to death on the return trip home. I just can't get over how the wind here can totally affect your ride. Headed north, I was burning rubber. Headed back southbound, I was sucking wind. I even stopped once while headed back (south) and DRANK from the public water fountain (4 people sharing one fountain). I didn't care that people let their dogs use it, I didn't care if SARS was going around, nothing.... I just needed some cold hydration and the wind was kicking my butt so bad, if I didn't stop, I would have bonked. I had water, but it just got too hot to drink, and I was running low on it anyway.

Koffee NEVER drinks from public fountains- until today!

Chris L

You wouldn't say that if you'd ridden in temps of 47C with about 5 fwillion percent humidity.

greg360

Yup, that time of the year ... is here.
Even in my neck of the woods, legendary for endless rain, we get all kindsa weather in April.
If ya don't like it, hang out a few minutes, it'll change
One thing for sure about the weather at this time of the year... you'll never be bored!!!

Joe Gardner

I can take the heat, it's the humidity that kills me. I cant say i have riden in 115F+ (47C) weather year, I think my max last year was just under 110F (43.3C).

Anything above that is just useless, I cant afford to stop every two miles to refill both water bottles.

Guest

Been there, done that.

Don't forget, I lived in Perth for a year. Exercising in the heat is no fun, but again, I never complained, because the year before, we'd had one of our worst winters on record here in Illinois.

Piece of cake.

On the other hand, I'm sure you'd be singing a different tune if you ever decided to roll on over here and ride in temps of -26C with a wind chill of -31C! I'm sure you'd go running back to 47C with humidity and smile the entire ride...

Don't ya think?

Koffee

Chris L

It gets worse when your town water supply is below 30% (as ours was most of last summer) and you simply don't have the option of refilling unless you buy bottled water every so often. Maybe now some people can appreciate why I love torrential downpours so much!

RegularGuy

I sent a tent to California for repairs a while back. Yesterday I phoned a customer service rep. to approve the charges. I told her I wanted my tent back because the weather was beautiful and I was ready to go camping.

"Where are you?" she asked.

"Illinois."

"Isn't it cold in Illinois?"

"Nope, it's in the 80s and sunny."

"Wow. It's been raining and in the 50s for a week here. It's very unusual for California."

"Well, I don't mean to gloat," I said, "but....HA!"

Guest

That's pretty funny- they're getting our weather, and we're getting theirs.

Be careful- I'm sure she had caller ID, and tomorrow, she'll be calling you back, and this time, SHE'LL be the one laughing at YOU.

You're a brave boy. If it were me, I'd be shivering under the covers avoiding phone calls for the rest of the week.



KB

Lady Jane

Gloat any chance you get....the chances to gloat over Illinois having better weather than California are few and far between.

You ARE a brave boy, RG.

Chip Henderson

It was great! I rode most of the day as well. 45 degrees today, what's that all about? At least it isn't raining (yet)...

Chip

Guest

Yeah, this sudden cold weather left me looking like this- and this- :confused:

I will be riding all day tomorrow and Saturday (and half of Sunday too!!!) no matter what the weather looks like. I have some great trail rides planned.


Oh well- we can't be 100% on with Chicago weather all the time!

Koffee