Wednesday 28 November 2007

Seriously Cold

I am still riding BlackAdder, my city/cross/shopping bicycle the 8.5 km return trip to work each day. Yesterday was actually fairly mild and the return trip, in particular, was actually quite pleasant.

Today is a different story. Leaving the house, the temperature was -14C (6.8F) and there was a light 8 km/h (5 mph) wind blowing. However, once you start rolling on the pavement the Do-It-Yourself-Windchill goes up pretty fast, and I was doing some long stretches at 25 km/h (15.5 mph). The calculated windchill works out to around -38C (-31F).

When I got to the bike parking area at work, there was one other cyclist. Although I am ridiculously proud at having ridden in, I hope that the cold weather does not last too long!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Leslie - you are a braver man than I. It is a realtively balmy -6 here in Burlington. If the temp does get above zero (expected high of +4 C) I might go out... depends on the wind. I need to fire up the trainer and get going if I am to keep up with you!

Take care!

Rob.

Sprocketboy said...

Hi, Rob! Great to hear from you. I am into the Base Phase of my training, having completed the Preparation part, so there is plenty of time now spent on the Vomitron, riding the Tour de Basement. With all the ice and snow and the windchill you really can't get much speed riding outside but it is fun to try. Some of the guys here ride with studded tires, but that is a bit too much for me! Keep training, and think of Springtime in Virginia!

Anonymous said...

Atta Boy.

Come on, you enjoyed every second!

I got caught at the top of a steep, icy hill today. Wear a helmet and take it easy.

best

Sprocketboy said...

If I had a view of the Swiss Alps instead of the side streets of the Vanier district of Ottawa--school buses, back parking lots of stores etc--I would probably enjoy it more! Still, it beats sitting in a bus.