But it's only 16 degrees outside!!!

The high was only 16 degrees today -- but who cares, the SUN was OUT!!! That's something that doesn't happen very often around here!

The weather guys had originally predicted very cold with snow showers for today. But, for some unknown reason, the sun came out instead!! They were right about it being cold, but since the sun was out, we layered on the clothes, packed up the mountain bikes, and headed to MOMBA to see if any other "crazy's" would brave the cold to ride today!!!

I was so thick with clothes, I felt like the kid in the "A Christmas Story" movie-- "I can't put my arms down"! To keep my head warm, I wore my full head cover, a fleece hat, and my helmet. Long John undershirt, a fleece top, light wool sweater, and a wind jacket for my torso. For my legs, I wore bike shorts, fleece leggings and thick wind resistant leggings. Since keeping toes warm is almost impossible for me- I swapped out my clipless pedals for flat pedals and wore my thick wool socks with my snow boots- this worked great! Another huge problem (for me) is keeping my hands warm. Pops had ordered us some "Smart Wool" glove liners, so with these and a pair of his thick fleece gloves my hands were ok. Actually, my hands started out cold but soon warmed up- where my toes started out warm and got cold- figure that one out. (???)

Since I haven't had a chance to ride my "new" single speed yet, today was the perfect opportunity to do so. It was great fun, but it kicked my butt! Actually, I did a little better than I thought I would. I did have to hike up several climbs, but I made some that I thought I would not be able to make. One thing that I did notice was how much upper body strength was involved climbing hills standing up. The trickiest thing for me was the climbs that had turns in them. It's one thing to stand up and climb a trail that runs straight, but put a 90 degree turn in the middle and it's a whole new ballgame!

I think I'm going to have to do a little more work on my bike. I think I should replace the brake pads (they stopped the bike, but are probably dried out like an old eraser) and I need to find a wider handlebar (the steering felt a little twitchy).