Consecutive bicycle work commute number 1767:

There are those mornings when you ride and think, "Yes! This is why I do this!" Then there are mornings like today where you really question your life choices.

It was a fitful night of not much sleep. The challenges of life kept me from falling asleep until much later than I wanted. Then I kept waking up throughout the night and could hear the wind howling. Knowing I had to ride straight into it this morning didn't bring much relaxation.

When I left the house it was 18°F air temperature with a wind chill of 2°F. Fighting the 30+ mph wind for 8 miles was brutal. It was dark and I couldn't see my speedometer, which was probably a good thing. Occasionally I would have a large downed tree branch appear in my headlight causing me to swerve to go around. Today was my first ride of the season wearing my ski goggles. When I arrived at the office my thighs and toes were pretty numb.

I took the road bike which helps with the wind, but the brifters tend to not shift very well in these temps so sometimes I would find myself in less than optimum gears. Shifting in the direction that tightens the cable works fine (to smaller cogs in the rear and to the larger cog in the front) but shifting in the direction that slackens the cable can be problematic. The lever just swings freely and won't "catch" until I hit a bunch of bumps, which must wiggle the cable enough to work the slack out. Then I can get it to shift one gear, and the process repeats itself. I thought it was just worn shift cables, but after replacing them the problem remains. I've pretty much accepted that it's a quirk that happens with this bike below 20°F.

By February this weather will seem like no big deal. But last week my morning commutes were in the 50s and 60s, so this sudden change to more typical weather for the season is a shock to my system.

When I got to work, a coworker who also rides most days rolled in about three minutes behind me. He is fighting some health challenges and converted his bicycle to an e-bike this year to allow him to keep bicycle commuting when he has rough days. To keep his fitness up he tries not to use the assist until he actually needs it, and tries to make his battery last an entire week on a single charge. This morning he said he drained his entire battery fighting the wind for six miles.

I knew this morning would be a challenge. And I also knew I would be tempted to take the easy way out and instead of riding all the way to our company office, only riding directly to the client location. However I also knew I had some mileage goals for October that required a longer commute to hit. So to remove the temptation of giving up on my goals, before I departed the company office yesterday I purposefully left behind my laptop and some clothes that I needed for today. That way I had no choice but to ride and reach my mileage goals this month.