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Full commute (14.5 miles) on The Goat. Temperature on departure: 11°F. Temperature on arrival: 9°F. I've ridden below zero a few times, but only to the bus. 16°F on the morning of November 21 was my previous record cold temperature for the full commute. I guess cDude was right about records being broken. I don't think this is the last one for me, either, as winter hasn't technically even started yet and I'd consider these temps to be pretty brutal. We don't usually get stuff like this until January and February. Just imagine what things will be like in a month!

I wore less layers than I had on this morning, but still had some clothing problems. At the half-way point (the I-635 overpass), I had to stop and re-evaluate things. I'd unzipped my ski coat a way back, but my back and arms were still burning up. Meanwhile, my chest was unsurprisingly numb and frigid. My hands were sweaty, too. The goggles stay clear when I'm moving, thanks to the ventilation. When I stop, though, they fog up. I took them off, removed my gloves, and took a break to warm up what needed warming up, and to air out what was getting sweaty.

I had been going at my usual work effort, and obviously this wasn't working. After about 5 minutes, I was ready to continue on my way. Fully zipped up, I opted for a slower pace, which worked quite well for the rest of the trip. It took me a lot longer to get home than I'd expected.

Merriam Marketplace


Frozen waterfall. I've taken pictures of it before. Never when frozen, though.


I said it took longer than I'd expected to get home. It was getting dark. The path before me contained pretty much every kind of track possible. Rabbit, shoe, dog, and even some deer tracks.


The only thing missing? Bike tracks. Much better.


When I got home, I checked the mail. Some junk mail for new car insurance contained this. It's a real bumper sticker. I'm cutting the bottom blue part off and installing it on my bike post haste.

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