12F (-11C) commute today

01-19-2005, 06:02 AM

My first extra cold one. So here I sit at work with my co-workers
thinking that I'm REALLY nuts. But it actually wasn't too bad.

My battery powered mittens were the HUGE success story. I wore a glove
liner under them and only the thumbs got chilly. I pulled them up into
the mittens for part of the trip but then they got warm enough to drop
them back down again.

I put on those Cold Lizard arm warmers that I bought back in October
but never needed (until now). My hand slipped off while pulling on the
left one and I managed to punch myself in the lip. Very nicely done
but not much blood shed. My tongue keep going over to check out the
booboo.

I wore my snow boots with two socks and the outer (Cannondale) bootie.
My toes still got cold. I am now looking for battery powered socks.
Somewhere in NYC they must be sold. The outdoors stores open around
10AM so I'll call around after that.

I wore C9 (Target brand) tights under my jeans. Just a bit cold at the
start but the legs warm up rapidly. Main body area was a C9 shirt,
ProSpirit polyester middle layer, and Cannondale jacket/windbreaker.
Pretty light stuff for 12 degrees but I might even have opened up a
zipper if I could have figured out a way to do so in mittens.

The heavy bacalava was pressed into service, along with a neoprene
face mask. The only problem there was the lack of a discharge tube for
the free-flowing mucus. Yech.

Hmm. I seem to have neglected to mention the flat tire. Yup, yet
again, going across the 59th Street Bridge, air is low in the back. I
pump some in, make it another mile, pump some more in. I limp to work.
I'll drag it to the LBS during lunch. This is getting annoying.

Still, all in all, there is no reason that I cannot do cold weather
commuting. Oh, did I mention the forecast for snow this afternoon?
Should make for a more exciting ride home.