Damp & Cool Friendly Friday

This Ride: 25.6 miles
Kona Distance: 4,683.7 miles
Month to date: 44.7 miles
2010 Total: 5,170.2 miles
5,254.8 mile goal in 2010: (84.2 miles to go)

Fridays have been important days to ride since joining SPP. It is a leisurely pace, we eat breakfast together, and there is a lot of conversation. Since the weather was forecast to be marginal, there was a bit of email traffic last night that probably amounted to putting each other on notice that certain people would be riding … unless it was just completely awful. After the email exchange, I put the fenders on the bike and made ready to ride.

It was 45 degrees with a very light sprinkle when I left the house at 5:30.  (Last spring my bottom limit for riding was 50 degrees and dry.)  I was trying out several items for the first time this morning, including a cap with ear warmers, new gloves, waterproof booties, & a wind jacket which promised to be rain resistant.  The cap felt good, but I’ll probably add my other ear warmers below 40 degrees.  The new gloves were great, warmer than my other long fingered gloves.  The waterproof booties did a fine job, but I’ve still got chilly toes.  Next step will be chemical foot warmers.  The wind jacket wasn’t very rain resistant, but I was comfortably warm without much exertion.

This was a nice ride.  Three pushed off from the Rusty Bridge, soon adding two.  We had to negotiate around the closed part of the trail (erosion repair), where Dan caught up with us.  Along the way we decided on Chick & Ruth’s for breakfast, and soon Chip (on bike) and Brian (by car) joined us.  By the time we were riding back, there were 5 on the return trip.  This was the first time since OC11 that we had the chance to sit down and do some ride stories together.  That was fun.

Annapolis was dry.  Severna Park was damp and still sprinkling when we returned.

My confidence about riding in increasingly cooler weather is improving.