Jan 5th - Training Ride

You know how it is right?  Cold morning but the sun is shining, you really want to stay in bed, but deep down you know a ride is calling.  You know you will love the ride once you get out there but lets face it the cold is seeping in and the devil is on your shoulder saying "Stay In Bed ..... you can make up the miles on the trainer".  Ah ha you say but there is no substitute for the road and leap out of bed ready to ride.   That's exactly what happened to me this morning other than the leaping bit, I kind of dragged my self into my cycling kit inspired by the sun.

I shot a message out on Facebook to see if anyone was up for a ride.  I going to give up on Facebook one of these days as no one seemed inspired to join me except my old training buddy who is 5000 miles away.  Ah but it brought back memories of frosty snowy mornings and I recall a ride with me up to my waste head first in a snow drift - simple and happy days.

After getting changed I looked at my feet and then out at the frost and an image of frozen toes came to mind.  I had not planned on winter riding and my kit does not include booties.  So old school was the way to go.  An old pair of winter socks and a pair of scissors and problem solved:

Feeling more confident about my feet I headed outside and mounted my steed of the day.  All the thoughts of days past and old school inspired me to ride my steal framed Chas Roberts.  This baby has been with me for going on 25 years and the wheel set is around 20 years old.  After the last ride the rear wheel needed truing up, funny all the spokes came loose, I guess I can't complain to much, they don't owe me anything.  It felt great to ride, like an old friend.

It might say 34F but it felt a darn sight colder and the start of the ride was down hill, not good, really not good, I thought my nose belonged to someone else and I could not believe how much snot I generated in such a short period of time (you cyclists know what that's like).   For you non cyclists here's a good rule of thumb, never shake hands with a cyclist with gloves on, I'm just saying tissues and hankies are not part of the kit.

I turned the corner and this is what welcomed me, yup there is something special about riding in the winter, other than cold toes, cold fingers, a nose that is frozen - oh stop complaining Matthew and check out the view.

Now this all looks fine and dandy but, 10 miles into the ride the sun disappeared behind freezing fog but by that time I had warmed up and looking forward to the view of Snoqualmie Falls.  As I climbed to the falls the sun was cutting through the fog and again I was treated to mother natures art work.  I just had to stop and capture a moment.

At the top of the climb I rode to the view point ready for my reward.  Did I mention it was foggy.  Well this was the view of the falls.

When there is no fog it looks like this.  It sounded awesome, but your going to have to take my word for that.

So I took a picture of my bike instead - Well you do, don't you.

I would have taken a few more shots but low and behold my camera died.  Note to self check battery before leaving.  Same thing with my shiny new Garmin Virb - no power.  Oh well next time.

The ride home was great with a climb up Grand Ridge and then back home to lunch and a hot tub.  Here are the stats from my Garmin.  I even set GPS tracking on so my wife could track me, which she didn't but it was there if she needed it.

Here's to the next adventure - Power Up & MaxLifeOut.