Before I get into the details of the ride, I have a small confession to make.
I wore underwear wrapped around my toes for today’s ride.
There, I said it – with no real sense of embarrassment. That might be due to the “old guy syndrome” that is slowly creeping into me as I near 40. It is the syndrome where men begin to care little of what others may think of their outward appearance. I see it in my 65 year old neighbor, who regularly goes out to get his mail wearing nothing more that a pair of boxers. In the back of the mind, the syndrome is saying “Think what you will – I’m comfortable and that’s all that matters.”
I am the man in black (with a hint of red)
Today’s choice to wear underwear on my toes was due to the weather. It was a chilly, late afternoon for a ride and I wanted to be as temperature neutral as possible. The underwear on the toes idea came from my Springtime experiences of either having hot feet or cold feet.
My cycling shoes are really not meant for cool weather riding and have a series of vents that allow for ample airflow inside the shoes. This is a great feature when the temperature is in the mid-80s, but becomes rather bothersome once the temps dip below 55 degrees. I have neoprene shoe covers that fully insulate my shoes (and are a great moisture barrier), but I have found that the temperature outside needs to be well into the 30s before they are really needed (my feet get REALLY hot inside of them).
So today’s plan was to find a balance of wind blocking material, yet something that would still breath a little. I had this old pair of goofy underwear that I only wore a few times (clean, of course, since I’m not a heathen) and were made out of a nice, thin stretchy material. I cut them up into two pieces that fit perfectly around the tips of my toes and slid my feet into the cycling shoes.
There sure are a lot of Specialized logos on my bike
The ride itself was rather uneventful. I’ve only gotten on the bike sporadically over the past two weeks – with only one or two rides each week, thus my fitness is starting to diminish. Plus, there was a mild wind around 10mph and the air temperature was in the low 40s. This combination didn’t support a high-performance ride. Here are some of the numbers:
- Friday, October 9, 2009
- departure: 5:00pm
- duration: 1:07
- distance: 19.8 miles
- speed: 17.8 mph
- odometer: 1211
Average speeds back in the 17′s is a little embarrassing, but hiding from the cold and pedaling into the wind results in such numbers. The goals now are simply to make it through the winter without gaining considerable weight – so I will worry about the numbers once Spring begins to emerge in Minnesota.
Mid-October and the grass is still quite green
Fall is definitely taking over the environment and it is fun to ride through such varied terrain. The corn has turned and rustles loudly in the wind as I pass by several large fields on my typical Medina route (yes, there is still farm country within a few short miles from my house). The trees and grass are a little confused at the moment, as several weeks of rain breathed some new life into them that things are still reasonably green. Another week in the metro area and things are bound to explode with the wonderful reds, oranges, and yellows of Fall.
The Song Of The Ride™ (SOTR™) comes from the lead singer (Bob Walkenhorst) of a good, late 80′s bad called The Rainmakers. I never really knew the band at the time of their popularity, but I stumbled upon Bob’s live recordings on the Internet Archive website. He puts on a weekly show in Kansas City that is well produced and sounds great. It is usually a simple three-piece group of guitars with some miscellaneous instruments thrown in for color. The specific song in my head a tune called Long Gone Long, which I think is an original of his. I particularly like his version recorded in April 2004.
Check out his full set of live recordings here. It’s great background music.
Oh – did the underwear on the toes actually work, you ask? Yeah, sort of. They definitely did the job of reducing the airflow inside my shoes and kept my feet comfortable in that respect. Unfortunately, the air temperature was a little cooler that I anticipated and my toes were rather cold by the end of the ride. I need to find the right combination of air-blocking and insulation so that my feet are both dry, but not hot or cold. I may need to find more advanced fabrics than stretchy underwear.
