Riding The Weather

That's how Danny Chew, he of the Dirty Dozen en RAAM, used to describe his approach to riding on the road in Pittsburgh in the winter. It's a simple approach, essentially meaning that any decent day you get, you try to ride, because between November and April, there will be plenty indecent ones. Decent as in: no snow or ice, and temperatures above your personal tolerance level. Since we got back from Rome (where we had coffee outside, in the sun) a little over two weeks ago, I've had to use the same approach here in Holland. It had gotten cold while we were gone, and the first day back riding to Amsterdam, I got confirmation when I saw a cat walk across the ice outside of Weesp. Having done nothing on the trip for five days straight, I was determined to get a full week of riding to the city, even if it would be a sub-freezing one. In Milwaukee, I lowered my personal threshold to about 10 Fahrenheit (-12 Celsius), so I'd get through a little bit of Dutch frost. The second morning was cold and clear, and just like a few weeks earlier, I saw the sun rise early in the ride. This time, however, it looked more like a radioactive blood orange, which I'm sure had to do with the cold air. The third day was notable too, because as I was plodding my way across the railroad bridge outside of Weesp I got passed by a very sharp looking dude on a Fort cross bike. There was no way I was going to try to get on his wheel, and not just because on the way in I tend to take it easy. This looked like a guy who was in the middle of cross season. My streak ended on that third day, because on Thursday it snowed, the beginning of a week with more snow and generally sketchy conditions on the roads. I rode the weather for as long as I could--and I got back into it as soon as it was possible again, last weekend. I had another three-day streak that may well prove to be the conclusion to my riding in 2009. Saturday a Lage Vuursche coffee ride on the mountain bike, as it was still slick here and there. In one turn, in Hollandse Rading, the fat tires kept me upright where the skinny tires might have been inadequate. The next day, a regular winter Sunday ride, was a few degrees above freezing, and I got a real ride (= no coffee stop) because my Sunday guys, the ones who insist on riding through the woods this time of year, never made it. One of them took a hard fall on the icy trails, and they had to cut their ride short. So much for riding the tractor this time of year. After learning the news, I just continued my loop, riding 38 winter miles on just one banana. This was after a big dinner the night before--don't try this on snack food or you'll bonk horribly (to add another Danny term). Monday was sunny, calm, and again above freezing. It's the holidays, so no reason to pass up an opportunity like that. I did the hooky loop again, averaging 18.5. December 31 is tomorrow, so perhaps I can add a few more miles to the annual mileage I'll be calculating in a little less than 24 hours. Don't touch that dial!