This, along with the surprisingly chill air, was what greeted me yesterday morning when I opened my door to leave for work.
It was my neighbor and, while my response to her was cheery, my inner monologue was more along the lines of "well, shit." Apparently South Carolina finally got the memo about it being October, not late summer. As if to mock Wednesday's post exalting the joys of slightly cooler weather, it was 45° out, with a solid headwind.
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| Pictured: Not ideal Fall attire |
Now, make no mistake: I really do believe that you can bike in any weather, given the proper attire. I've biked in everything from single-digit snowstorms to triple digit days with full sun. The key word, though, is attire. While South Carolina may have gotten the memo, I hadn't, and was expecting another beautiful, 60° morning. As a result, I was wearing my typical attire, composed of a lightweight polo, shorts, and sandals. As you may recognize, this is not optimal fall clothing, but it was too late to go back in and change, so I did the only thing to do: pedal. I managed to keep a good pace, which helped, but there's only so much you can do when you're wearing sandals. I suppose it's time to finally start wearing pants and shoes... Better than cold feet.
Moral of the story: check the weather forecast first.
Stay warm,
-K
You're in South Carolina? Here's to ya. Been bike commuting north of 8 years. Up here in New England I've been in full finger gloves for a while & was wondering this morning if I should have broken out the Lobster Claws and the balaclava. Later on I get out the ski mask. I guess in SC you never have to face that. But riding in high summer must be something else again.
ReplyDeleteWinter doesn't really happen down here - it's only snowed twice in the 5 years I've lived in SC, but the summers do get pretty hot and humid. That said, when I started commuting, I lived in Fort Wayne, IN, and the winters there get cold. I've biked through plenty of snow and ice. Fond memories of pulling out the balaclava in the mornings, lol. I never tried the Lobster Claws, but I found UnderArmour ColdGear gloves worked great down to 40 degrees or so, and if it got really cold I'd wear a thicker pair on top of them. To be honest, I prefer biking in the cold over the heat - I don't get as sweaty.
DeleteWhat kind of bike do you ride? My Giant Rincon was quite a trooper through the winters.