Baby, It's Cold Outside

I think I went a little under my preferred minimum temperature of 0° C this morning, but I somehow still overheated. I had some really cold areas when I got to the office, but my core was quite warm, and I was sweating. How does that happen?

Getting the hang of proper layering is something that takes time and practice. A few years ago I got it down pretty well. This year I'm starting again. I guess I could keep a log of temperatures at ride start and end, the clothing I wore, and my comfort level and complaints. But, I don't even keep a training log or a journal of my life. I don't think that I'm going to get that scientific about clothing. As it stands, I'll just try to build a best guess system of layers. Oh, and just for the record, this morning it was leg warmers, foot covers, bibs, a long-sleeved jersey, a vest, and a windbreaker. I could have probably skipped the vest and been okay. I also wore a baclava under my helmet.

I need to get back in shape. I spent a lot of this morning's ride panting for air and coasting. Now I did maintain an average speed of about 29 km/h — about 18 mph for those of you not accepting of metrics — but it really burned me over the 13 km course I take to work.

BTW: I choose to use metric measurements in my cycling and most aspects of my life as I find them easier to work with. And in much the same way as most Americans just understand the length of a foot, I find that just understanding the length of a meter or decimeter makes the system easy to use, without worrying about the whole conversion thing. Weights, distances, and volumes are pretty easy. I'm still struggling on overcoming my SAE upbringing when  it comes to temperature, but I'm working on it.