Hi, all,

I'd just got warmed up & cleaned up from a morning ride when I read Len's mail about starting later today.

I'm a psycho that rode this morning at 745 am. Depending on the importance of the body part I had 2-4 layers on.  But, why ride at all?
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The air is so cold you can feel its density.  You have to spin light gears to push through it to get anywhere. Every sound is magnified...you can hear the cars from a half mile back.  Yet, when you are way out...all you can hear is your own breathing, the gentle ticking of tuned gears spinning a good chain, and the smooth sound of tires on asphalt.

Shifting up to crank hard becomes painful for each deeper breath is a chilled spike in your throat. Yet, that helps break the monotony of just spinning.  It is a good day to go slower and appreciate the country and reflect.  But, it is also a good day to do several random big gear intervals at 50 rpm for 4-5 minutes...then add in 2 minutes or so of standing pedal...then just for fun, cap it with a 15-20 second all out sprint to a power pole.

The wind pushes back, cold and hard from the north...north of Alachua, after nearly 25 miles riding in to its teeth I turned west...the wind shifted within 5 minutes and was back in my face again. By 915 am I'm nearly half done, the Sun feels warm in the open despite the wind.  The frost on the roadside is still visible in the shadows of the trees along 235 A.  As my front wheel guides me south for awhile I feel a tail wind...but I swear...the wind knows what I have done...soon it feels like an intermittent head wind again as I sometimes glide, sometimes struggle past the pastures along 241.

I'm home by 1100 am...just as I predicted to my wife.  54 miles...the outside temp is still 45 F. I stride into the house and rip off my jacket and jerseys...it is a blast furnace at 65 F. I'm 50...someday I will not be able to conquer the road and the cold.  But, today, again, I did.  That's why.

I hope everyone who rode today had a great ride. Catch some of you soon for a Gliders ride.

Spin the hills...Bob Howland