The Fat Guy In The Back
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Sioux Falls, SD
Posts: 2,532
Bikes: '81 Panasonic Sport, '02 Giant Boulder SE, '08 Felt S32, '10 Diamondback Insight RS, '10 Windsor Clockwork, '15 Kestrel Evoke 3.0, '19 Salsa Mukluk
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Consecutive bicycle work commute number 1336:
First commute of 2022. We went and visited my wife's family in Ohio over the holidays. I didn't ride my bicycle for almost two weeks while we were gone. I also went on a two week feeding frenzy, and am afraid to step on the scale and see the damage that I did. In addition, it was in the 50s and 60s there (never dropped below 40°F) so I also lost a portion of my winter skin. We do this trip every year, and it's always rough to jump back into commuting upon returning.
The day we drove home, it was 57°F when we left, and -9°F when we arrived back in South Dakota. A 66° temperature difference. Woof.
Thankfully this first day back in the saddle coincided with a one day blip in the temperature. It was 30°F when I left the house this morning. That was a much more reasonable temperature to deal with in my out-of-shape state. The pavement was mostly dry, so I decided to take advantage of the situation and ride the road bike; a rare treat in January. I'm glad I did, as the easy pedaling let me ease back into the daily grind as I rode into the 15mph headwind on the way to the office.
The temps are supposed to drop throughout the day, with the projected temp in the low 20s for the ride home. Thankfully I should have a tailwind.
The real test will be tomorrow's commute. 0°F with a 30 mph headwind is predicted, with wind gust over 50 mph. Serious windchill. Not looking forward to that, but hopefully today's relatively easy commute will give me a little bit of a running start as I get back into winter commuting.