-11 Degree Weather and Still Biking

Biking in -11 degree weather is reserved for the special people. I happen to be one of those special people. What drove me to put on my bike shorts, my wind breaker, my gloves, face mask, leggings, wool sock, and beanie? I want to say that it is my drive and will to keep biking no matter what but I can not tell you that with out saying that I needed to go to Melrose and I didn't want to pay for the commuter rail.

Though my toes were frozen by the end and I had to use a hot pack to thaw them out I did not encounter any trouble with the trip. When it gets that cold the world stops and I felt as though I was in a ghost city where even the tumbleweeds would not roll.

LESSON LEARNED: My clip shoes are make to keep my feet dry so there is allot of air flow. to keep my feet warm I Velcroed some hand warmers to the from of my shoe. It kept it warm for about ten minutes than when the feet started the sweat the shoe would do its job and let the air flow right into my foot thus causing them to freeze. So in the future put your hand warmers inside your shoe if it fits that way you wont leave a nice jet stream for some nice air-conditioning in your shoe.

It has been some months since I have updated you on my preparation for my trip. since then I have been going full steam collecting all the necessary items to make this dream a reality. some of those things are(brands and more specifics are to come when new site is launched):

Lone peak panniers (saddle bags for to carry things) (p-500)(p-100)

Back and a Front rack

leggings

winterbike gloves

facemask

CO2 bike pump

road tires

wind jacket

MSR firefly stove

sleeping bag

WHAT I AM IN NEED OF:

small 3 season 2 person tent

handlebar bag

I have recently had my photos taken and will be showing those soon once I have narrowed them down.

BIKE TRACKS: Red Hot Chilly Peppers

TOTAL DISTANCE FOR DAY (TDD) : 14 miles

TOTAL TIME FOR THE DAY (TTD) : 1.5 hr

TOTAL TIME TRAINING: ~

TOTAL DISTANCE TRAVELED: 2103.84Miles

Ice-cream VS. Pie

Day 6 – 2/1/09

On each of my adventures I want to run into and find new and different people and places. I think part of my training is not just getting into shape but also exploring the city and towns around me. And boy did I find a new place today. My adventure today started off fairly simple.  I was going to go bike to the JP licks in Newton (I know JP licks again….but hey it’s a nice way to choose a destination) It was around 4 miles away so it was going to be a simple ride.  I headed down beacon street and when I got the intersection where Cleveland circle is, I came upon a group of 5 “bikers”.  They were the athletic bikers that have the cool helmets and shirts that have pockets on their lower back.  I felt as though this would be a great time to observe how “real” bikers bike.  They moved as a group pedaling at the same speed looking as though they’re not exerting any energy. They were almost dancing with each other, moving in and out of formation, waving each other to the side to avoid ice and bumps. They were connected with each other creating a new entity that was not just the individual bikers but one vehicle. I fallowed them the best I could…(from afar). I really wanted to know what this image looked like to a passer by, 5 stellar looking bikers and one biker on a mountain bike with a scarf wrapped around his face and enough layers of clothing to appear as though he was 250 pounds trailing behind. I felt like the nerd fallowing the cool kids around school hoping that the essence of cool would blow off of them and on me.  This fantasy only lasted as long as the road was flat. Once a hill came, the cool kids were gone. They were so far ahead of me I didn’t even get to say goodbye.  Once I got over the biker shun, I focused on the freaking hill that I was huffing and puffing up.  I made it to the top and before long I was jetting down the other side having a blast, always knowing that what I go down I must come back up (I’ll deal with that when I come to it).   At the bottom of the hill was where JP licks was supposed to be…I could not find it.  Out of the corner of my eye I saw a sign.  Not just a Sign…THE sign…THE sign of Signs.  The café was called “PIE” …My breaks where hit and the wheels of my bike were flipped and I was in the store, sitting in front of all sorts of pies in seconds.  This place was great and my stomach knew it.  There were your regular fruit pies, apple, cherry, rhubarb, but then there were allsorts of sweet and savory pies and I wanted them all.  I ended up settling for an eggplant, mozzarella, and tomato “hand pie”  it hit the spot and it gave me enough energy to make it back over that hill.  After finishing my scrumptious snack I headed back on my adventure towards my home.  About halfway up the hill I stopped and took a picture of Mary Baker Eddy’s home (not sure who she is but will find out and will go back to that house because it was beautiful).  After getting over the hill and back into charted territory I was overwhelmed with joy of completing my bike clime.  I was just very proud of my self for learning about other bikers and exploring new places and wanted to take on the next challenge that lay in my path. 

            There was no ice-cream this time around but there was pie. And I think that is worth an equal standing.

TOTAL DISTANCE FOR DAY (TDD) : 7.8 miles

TOTAL TIME FOR THE DAY (TTD) : 50 min

 

TOTAL TIME TRAINING: 4 hrs 15 min

TOTAL DISTANCE TRAVELED: 31.97 Miles

Sharing the Road with.. Runners?

Day 5 – 1/31/09

I biked up Beacon St.  To Cleveland circle, which is the end of Beacon st.  It comes to almost a T at a reservoir.  Which is a beautiful place to run during the summer.  I biked for 40 min and was just happy to be back on the bike.  For the last two days I have not been able to go biking, I don’t know if that was because I was not pushing my self enough or the fact that we got 12 inches of snow on Thursday (could be both).  I woke up this morning after having slept 5 hours last night, full of energy.  I was amazed because I had stayed up till 4 am but my body wanted to go do things, so I went and did things.  Getting my warm cloths together and carrying my bike down stairs, just build up the anticipation of the ride.  I was so excited to be biking.  Its Saturday morning so there were not allot of cars on the road (thank you weekends) but something that was strange was, instead of having to fight for my space on the road with cars I was weaving through swarms of runners.  There were runners with their spandex and multi colored outfits running in my bike lane…what is up with that?  I do have to say it was nice seeing all these people out and about (most of them were smiling) but it just struck me as odd that they felt as though they should just use the bike lane to run in.  It wasn’t like the sidewalks were full, in fact I think there were more people on the streets than on the sidewalks. I know Boston is a pedestrian town but come on!  After running a few of them over (joking…no really, I’m…joking…) I got to the reservoir.  I was hoping that the town had plowed the path that went around the rim of the water because I know that it would be a beautiful ride, but I had no such luck. I did get to bike around the frozen water, I just had to use the road which wasn’t bad.   For half of my trip I was heading west on beacon then around the water and for that entire time I was biking against the wind… It was slow and painful.  The icy cold wind hitting my face almost cutting into my skin, but I continued, I pushed through, for myself and for the future of my adventures. When I turned the corner to head back in the east direction my ride flew by.  I was back in my apartment and ready to take on the day.  This ride was one that slightly introduced me to the troubles that I will meet along my cross-country journey, which was good to have as a warning that it wasn’t going to be easy.  I was happy to see everybody’s faces as I biked past them on the road and look forward to seeing many more people through out my travels.

 

TOTAL DISTANCE FOR DAY (TDD) : 4.57 miles

TOTAL TIME FOR THE DAY (TTD) : 40 min

 

TOTAL TIME TRAINING: 3.41 hrs

TOTAL DISTANCE TRAVELED: 24.17 Miles