Consecutive bicycle work commute number 2221:

I woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. I didn't sleep well for a good chunk of the night. After I got up my wife, who spent most of the night in her recliner in the family room, informed me that an alarm had been going off since 2 AM downstairs in our utility room. I couldn't hear it from the bedroom. I went down to the basement to investigate, and it was the water alarm that was sounding.

There was a small puddle of water under the alarm sensors, but the remainder of the basement was dry. The only thing I can think of is that the floor drain (about 2 feet away) backed up for a few minutes enough to reach the water alarm. My wife said that she waited until I got up to tell me, as she didn't want to disturb me while I was sleeping. I felt conflicted, appreciating her consideration for me, yet mildly annoyed that she waited four hours to tell me the alarm was sounding. I gave her permission in the future to wake me up in the middle of the night if an alarm was sounding, as the intent behind an alarm is to give us early warning of a pending problem before it gets worse. Thankfully there was no flooding or damage.

Part of the reason I didn't sleep well was because I could hear the wind howling all night. It's not unusual that hearing the wind will make me sleep a bit restless, knowing that I'm going to have to deal with the wind during my morning commute. After I silenced the flood alarm and my wife went to bed, I sat for a few minutes in my chair listening to the wind and dreading the ride.

When I left the house, the temp was 44°F and the wind was averaging 20 mph steady with gusts approaching 50 mph. It was dark, cold and blustery. I had to ride mostly into the wind for my eight mile ride to the office. I took my road bike, which cuts the wind better than my other bikes, but I still only averaged about 10 mph. I had to dodge a lot of sticks and branches that had fallen due to the winds, which would suddenly appear in the beam of my headlight and require evasive maneuvers.

By the time I reached the office my bare legs and my hands were pretty numb. Despite the temperature being well above freezing, the wind chill was averaging right around 32°F. In February this will be a nice, balmy day, but as of right now I don't yet have any winter skin.