The Inaugural Commute and Ride

My first commute on the Pugsley was successful. Over the past few years I have dialed in my layering system for temperatures below zero. My coworkers asked how I stayed warm on the ride in yesterday, but the real issue was how not to overheat.

The ride home was the tough part. At 5pm it's already dark and the temperatures were dropping below zero as I left the office. I had a chill inside of me before I even got dressed to ride, so I blasted the space heater in the office to warm up. That seemed to work.

I arrived home warm and happy and with plans to get out and do a trail ride later that night.



It didn't matter how cold it was, I wanted to get out and ride on the trails. So Brian and I met Tim out at the Smokejumper trailhead. When we got to the parking lot we were hesitant to get out of the car. When it's that cold you need to have a plan and move fast so that you don't freeze your ass off before you start riding. When we left the trailhead on the bikes Tim's thermometer read 0 degrees.

My thoughts of frozen body parts quickly subsided as we started gliding down the trail. The snow was packed down and Brian had no problem on studded tires, but there is something about sitting up there on that snow bike that makes me happy, even if I don't really need it yet. I know that I could ride off the trail and into the unpacked snow if I wanted to. It just opens up the door to a world of possibilities.



Tim snapped this picture of me in the last five minutes of the ride back to the car. I've been doing pilates lately and learning how to relax my shoulders while everything else is working, but there is no way to relax your shoulders when it is this cold. I barely managed to get my tongue back in my mouth before it froze.

Tim's thermometer read -10 when we arrived back at the parking lot. Now I'm sitting at work eating lunch and daydreaming of where I want to take my new bike next.