Well, I gotta be honest. Consecutive commute number 413 stunk. For the first time in a long time I really was thinking I should have driven. Of course, now that I'm here I'm glad I didn't.

Woke up to a temp of 18F, about 10 degrees lower than predicted. 30 mph steady winds from the north (of course the direction I'm heading) with gusts well above that.

Had to take the hybrid with the rack and panniers because I'm bringing home the Thanksgiving turkey after work. That bike is normally slower than my road bike, but it's even more noticeable in the wind. On level ground I could hold about 8-9 mph with a lot of effort. Going down hills I could hit 10-11. We won't even talk about going up hills. Arrived 12 minutes late on a 4 mile ride that usually takes me less than 20 minutes.

Because of the short distance to the client's office this morning I just wore my work clothes with my windbreaker over it. Normally that's plenty for a short ride like that. My upper body was fine, but this morning the wind cut right through the pants and made my thighs extremely cold. I got some serious wind burn even with the layer of pants. Now that I'm sitting here at the office it feels like someone is pulling every hair out of my legs simultaneously.

In 3 hours I have to ride 8 more miles into this wind to another work location. Thankfully I packed a pair of winter riding pants that I'll put on which should make things a bit more bearable. But I'll have to account for the extra ride time caused by the wind.