COLD!

Lovely ride to work this morning. I left at about 6:20, so the traffic wasn't bad, but it was cold. Thermometer read 15˚ and the wind was blowing 20 mph, directly into my face. If you believe in wind chill (I don't really--that is, I believe in it, but it's a silly number; we don't report wind chill in the summer, do we?), anyway, if you believe in reporting the wind chill, it would have been -2˚F.

But it was a perfectly nice ride. Why? Layers, my dear, layers. Medium-weight turtleneck, medium-weight cotton sweater (I know I know wool would have been better), windbreaker on top; lined nylon pants over my regular pants on the bottom; insulated boots with wool socks on my feet; and, finally, on my head: thin polartec cap, thin wool neck gaiter pulled up over my nose and cheeks, and clear ski goggles. Not a square centimeter of skin was exposed, so I didn't get cold.

(By the way, despite my general acceptance of the premise that wool is always better, the polartec/merino face mask that I sometimes use really is better than the all-wool one because it wicks the moisture from my breath to the outside of the mask, keeping the mask dry where it touches my face. Even though the wool mask still provides some warmth when it is soaking wet, the dry polartec mask is nicer. I have started to wear it more than the wool one on really cold days.)

My battery-powered halogen front light (an old Specialized model that they don't make any more) and Princeton Tec "Swerve" rear light (very bright and visible from all angles), along with my flashing Reelights, made the ride in the dark perfectly ordinary.

(I have been experimenting with front lights on the slush mobile. I've considering getting a dynamo light, but I go through so much snow in the winter that a dynamo has a hard time gripping the tire, even with a wire roller, I suspect.) I tried a Cateye EL300 (LED), but it's just not bright enough for everyday use. So I'll keep using my Specialized halogen light, which needs freshly charged batteries every morning, reserving the Cateye for those times when I forget to recharge the batteries.)