Cold Day in Hell

Yeah for me! When I left my house this morning to go on a group bike ride, it was a brisk 38 degrees. I whined the whole time I was getting ready. As I put my bike rack on my car, I was shivering - how would I ever be able to ride a bike without freezing to death.

I told my husband when I left that I might be right back home. That if the temperature didn't go up significantly, I was not going on the ride. Once at the signup tent, it was still friggin cold - I wanted to back out. However, I took my friend with me to make sure I would go. We keep each other honest. We looked at the bike route and weren't too sure about that either - after all, this is for fun - we could freeze, we could encounter large hills - none of which sounds like too much fun to me.

One of the attendees assured us that the hills are doable - that there wouldn't be anything of significance. And so we placed ourselves at the back of the pack so that we could ride "our" ride - using aerobars once the pack got out of range. OK - so I didn't freeze to death. Seems I dressed exactly correct for the weather and was comfortable. The first half of the ride was very smooth with some rolling hills and winding roads - it was fun! However, coming back, we did encounter 2 hills that required some huffing and puffing to reach the top - but all in all - doable.

And for me - it's always about being doable. So today was the first time I had ridden my bike in that type of temperature - and I survived. Yeah for me! (Post ride food was also outstanding - anytime they have chocolate chip cookies - it was worth the ride.)