how cold was it?

Something like two below zero and windchills to 18 below- before riding into the wind today. Ridden a few times already this year, but today takes the frozen ice cream cake as coldest ride this season.  And I've got it pretty good, the lake keeps it warmer here than say, Minneapolis. A big, moderating heat sink  until it freezes over, which it's doing pretty quick. Harbor is frozen, the big lake is still wide open. i could see some rollers out on the horizon, people are still out surfing.

the clothing choice for today -

Well, that's from last year's polar vortex, and i was feeling pretty lazy today so didn't bother taking a photo today since the look was near identiical and the only aging that might be discerned would be the fading of the hat.

 I read somewhere on the internet that taking photos interfere with the formation of memories- i'm not sure how that works once memory loss sets in, but by that time i figure i will have already lost the photos so it's going to be a wash. 

 The ride today, in shrinkingly cold weather today, actually turned into a recreational ride of sorts, with my textbooks for the upcoming semester in the panniers and me having a great time taking an extra lap by the beach while my eyelids froze in place. I contemplated deploying the goggles mid-ride, but have an aversion to the 'captain spaceman' effect they have anyone but someone on skis - not that this look is any better.

Try it, you'll like it. As a side note, i am scheduled to give a winter commuter cycling class up in Houghton this winter, got some great riding tips  for people to try out.

 Stay warm - remember, there's no bad weather, just bad clothing, but if you've ever wondered if riding into the wind when the windchill is 20 below feels any cold, the answer is HECK YES.

Winter redux

I have been remiss in posting as I am semi-serious about bloggery. About nine months ago I went out with the camera and did some skiing. Here's some winter cycling from 2013.

north country trail upper michigan monstercross bike ride

I got turned around last week on the bike and wound up on the mostly hiking North Country Trail in Marquette County.

 The text link is to the Vimeo video, which has a little better quality for some reason than the You Tube video.

 Short, felt pretty small in the scale of it all, thanks to the ant who went center stage at one point in the video shoot.

The snow finally melted.

The late start to winter allowed a late finish to off-road bicycling in the Upper Peninsula in 2012.

Here's a video I shot mid-December riding one of Marquette County's premier mountain bike trails on my Surly cyclocross bike.

and a little higher resolution version at Vimeo.




vimeo video

December road bicycling

It's been a busy summer and I've been remiss, but here's video of a recent sub 24 hour bike trip...on bike to the edge of the big lake.