John’s Ramblings

It’s pretty frackin’ cold around here… not by midwest or far-north standards, but it’s been sub-freezing for over a week now.

A week ago Tuesday (the 15th), I led the Use It or Lose It ride and had 3 riders show up.  The temp dropped to sub-freezing right about the time the ride started, and the wet spots along the trail and roads were pretty treacherous.  I cut it a little short, but we still managed 17 miles on a beautiful but cold night.

On Saturday we led a Newcomer’s ride.  I had received calls during the week asking about the ride, but it was drizzling and cold as we got dressed to head to the start point.  I really didn’t expect to have any riders, and I certainly didn’t expect 16 folks to show up.  7 of the riders were first-time-group-riders.  We pulled them through the headwind from Tukwila to Kent, then stopped to let everyone warm up with a hot drink at Kent Station.  There was far less grunting, groaning, or comments about the cold on the way back to Tukwila, given the 12 mph tailwind.

Last night was Use It or Lose It again, but this time nobody showed.  Usually there is a core group of what I’d call “hard-core” riders, but they all opted to stay warm indoors even though the temperature was around 35 at the start.   Knowing I’d get a workout on Wednesday, I opted out as well.

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