Week 5 - 52 Miles of Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!!
Week 5 - Brrrrrrr - 52 Miles 7 1/2 hours
Grab a cup of coffee and sit down to enjoy this fiasco! I had been in Florida all week (Navy business) and it was beautiful - I even got to run four times. I got back very very late Friday night (actually 3 a.m. Saturday morning) so we had not planned to ride on Saturday anyway - of course, that was the nice day. When Ryan and I talked Saturday, we both had heard that it was supposed to rain Sunday around noon. So, we decided we could make it out and back before the bad weather started. I left my house about 5:45 and got to his place about 6:30-6:45. I had already told him it was cold (worse yet it was extremely breezy/windy). We talked about aborting the ride but I said I felt it would have been a wasted day if i had come all the way up there for nothing but breakfast (after all I drive that distance every day of the week). So, idiot that I am, I convinced Ryan that it would be fine.
Out we went and the breeze came up again, chilling both of us before we even left the parking lot! That should have been our clue, but, alas, it wasn't. We got to the W&OD Trail, bundled up and off we went. Although still windy, I certainly had enough layers on that at the top of one hill I decided to strip (but to go along with the rest of the day, I took the wrong thing off - I should have left the windbreaker on and taken off the sweatshirt). But I just pedaled faster to get my body heat going and after a bit I was ok. Ryan decided we should do intervals so I took off and tried to maintain 17-20 mph except of course at the stop signs. My quads were really burning after that. There was some drizzling all along the way but not raining really hard - the cold, though, was another story - especially into the wind. We took a slight detour however because Ryan's toes were really frozen. I went in and looked for air-activated heating pads. Got some and went back out but of course they didnt work that well (they only cost 99 cents so what the heck should we expect (and I had just taken the good ones out of my pack last night). Then Ryan used "the facilities" and we were off again...it was very cold by then.
We made it out to 26 miles and turned around feeling pretty proud of ourselves (Believe it or not, I have spared you much of the detail) for surviving the cold and doing the long interval pushes. When we weren't doing the intervals we had nearly had the road all to ourselves so it was easy to ride side by side.
The one thing about doing intervals is that both the mileage and the time seems to pass quickly since you're concentrating on something else. That made the miles from 20 to 26 seem like nothing (too bad it didn't continue like that).
On the way back, though, the rain began - i had thought we had beat all the headwinds by running into them on the way out but somehow they turned around when we did because there were plenty of them on the way back. For awhile we were still doing quite well despite the rain. But after awhile the rain mixed with the cold and the wind really got to both of us. I was having significant problems with my hands. my fingers were so cold they hurt so badly. Much as i hate to admit it, I had to stop to try to warm them up they hurt so badly. Ryan became my hero once again by having me put my hands in his nice warm gloves for awhile - I began to think I would actually be able to finish again AND feel again. So, off we went for some more miles. After awhile I told Ryan I wanted to stop at some place if we could find one and go inside and get something hot to drink. He said "ok" but I felt as if I was wimping out on him. But we finally got to Vienna (I think) and went up the road a bit to a shopping center - lo and behold there was a coffee shop. So, in we went, dripping and all. Had some coffee and a piece of cake and sat there warming up. it felt wonderful despite the fact that our clothes were still soaked almost all the way through. I was just happy i could feel my fingers.
Refreshed and warmed we ventured off again. The warmth didn't last really very long though. Pretty soon, I had to stop again so that I could warm up my hands. I hated to stop but the pain was tooooo much. Ryan saved my fingers more time than I could ever expect. He truly became my hero on this ride! His poor toes were continually frozen but I could not do anything to help them. This was the hardest ride. we figured the wind chill was very very low (and from the weather report it probably was....I think the temp was between 35 and 40 all day long (if not lower) and the wind was abot 13 mph. I dont know the exact figures but that would make the wind chill very low.
I admitted to Ryan that I was a complete and total idiot! and now I admit to everyone the same thing. When we got back to the car, after cheering mightily, we threw the bikes into the back (the heck with the bike rack), changed our clothes right there in the park parking lot, turned on the heat full blast (of course, it didn't do that much good with all four doors wide open, climbed in and went to dinner. And Ryan harassed me the entire time - for once I deserved it completely and I KNOW I will not hear the end of it. Hopefully week 6 will be warmer or dryer at least.
Now I have to go clean out the car and remove the frozen gear that I just left there overnight......so............til we meet again......
Frozen Fingers Terrie!
Grab a cup of coffee and sit down to enjoy this fiasco! I had been in Florida all week (Navy business) and it was beautiful - I even got to run four times. I got back very very late Friday night (actually 3 a.m. Saturday morning) so we had not planned to ride on Saturday anyway - of course, that was the nice day. When Ryan and I talked Saturday, we both had heard that it was supposed to rain Sunday around noon. So, we decided we could make it out and back before the bad weather started. I left my house about 5:45 and got to his place about 6:30-6:45. I had already told him it was cold (worse yet it was extremely breezy/windy). We talked about aborting the ride but I said I felt it would have been a wasted day if i had come all the way up there for nothing but breakfast (after all I drive that distance every day of the week). So, idiot that I am, I convinced Ryan that it would be fine.
Out we went and the breeze came up again, chilling both of us before we even left the parking lot! That should have been our clue, but, alas, it wasn't. We got to the W&OD Trail, bundled up and off we went. Although still windy, I certainly had enough layers on that at the top of one hill I decided to strip (but to go along with the rest of the day, I took the wrong thing off - I should have left the windbreaker on and taken off the sweatshirt). But I just pedaled faster to get my body heat going and after a bit I was ok. Ryan decided we should do intervals so I took off and tried to maintain 17-20 mph except of course at the stop signs. My quads were really burning after that. There was some drizzling all along the way but not raining really hard - the cold, though, was another story - especially into the wind. We took a slight detour however because Ryan's toes were really frozen. I went in and looked for air-activated heating pads. Got some and went back out but of course they didnt work that well (they only cost 99 cents so what the heck should we expect (and I had just taken the good ones out of my pack last night). Then Ryan used "the facilities" and we were off again...it was very cold by then.
We made it out to 26 miles and turned around feeling pretty proud of ourselves (Believe it or not, I have spared you much of the detail) for surviving the cold and doing the long interval pushes. When we weren't doing the intervals we had nearly had the road all to ourselves so it was easy to ride side by side.
The one thing about doing intervals is that both the mileage and the time seems to pass quickly since you're concentrating on something else. That made the miles from 20 to 26 seem like nothing (too bad it didn't continue like that).
On the way back, though, the rain began - i had thought we had beat all the headwinds by running into them on the way out but somehow they turned around when we did because there were plenty of them on the way back. For awhile we were still doing quite well despite the rain. But after awhile the rain mixed with the cold and the wind really got to both of us. I was having significant problems with my hands. my fingers were so cold they hurt so badly. Much as i hate to admit it, I had to stop to try to warm them up they hurt so badly. Ryan became my hero once again by having me put my hands in his nice warm gloves for awhile - I began to think I would actually be able to finish again AND feel again. So, off we went for some more miles. After awhile I told Ryan I wanted to stop at some place if we could find one and go inside and get something hot to drink. He said "ok" but I felt as if I was wimping out on him. But we finally got to Vienna (I think) and went up the road a bit to a shopping center - lo and behold there was a coffee shop. So, in we went, dripping and all. Had some coffee and a piece of cake and sat there warming up. it felt wonderful despite the fact that our clothes were still soaked almost all the way through. I was just happy i could feel my fingers.
Refreshed and warmed we ventured off again. The warmth didn't last really very long though. Pretty soon, I had to stop again so that I could warm up my hands. I hated to stop but the pain was tooooo much. Ryan saved my fingers more time than I could ever expect. He truly became my hero on this ride! His poor toes were continually frozen but I could not do anything to help them. This was the hardest ride. we figured the wind chill was very very low (and from the weather report it probably was....I think the temp was between 35 and 40 all day long (if not lower) and the wind was abot 13 mph. I dont know the exact figures but that would make the wind chill very low.
I admitted to Ryan that I was a complete and total idiot! and now I admit to everyone the same thing. When we got back to the car, after cheering mightily, we threw the bikes into the back (the heck with the bike rack), changed our clothes right there in the park parking lot, turned on the heat full blast (of course, it didn't do that much good with all four doors wide open, climbed in and went to dinner. And Ryan harassed me the entire time - for once I deserved it completely and I KNOW I will not hear the end of it. Hopefully week 6 will be warmer or dryer at least.
Now I have to go clean out the car and remove the frozen gear that I just left there overnight......so............til we meet again......
Frozen Fingers Terrie!
posted by Terrie at
4:09 AM
