Today was one of the physically toughest challenges I've faced in my 40+ years. I set out for an 80 mile loop on a day the forecasters had promised rain. And rain it did. I covered the last 35 miles or so (more than 2 hours) in a steady, heavy rain. And it was very cold too. And herein lies the problem. I quickly got soaked to the bone and spent two miserable hours fighting off hypothermia.
It started with the extremities, naturally. I lost sensation first in my feet. Then my fingers went numb. And finally I lost contact with most everything from the elbow down. The saving grace was that my energy remained high. High enough that I could really work the bike and keep some warmth in my core and my legs. Only when I hit Newark and had to slow for traffic did I really get in trouble in my core. And Newark sucked because my hands were too cold to brake or to work the gears.
By the time I got home I was shivering and going in to shock. My hands were too cold to function so I couldn't strip the wet clothing off. It was 15 minutes or so before I regained enough feeling in my fingers to work loose the clothes and helmet. I lay on the ground, naked, shivering in front of a space heater for another 20 minutes. My feet didn't warm for about 45 minutes. And when the did, it hurt something fierce. I finally got enough courage to hit the shower and try to warm my body. I was beyond teeth chattering and starting to shake more violently so I needed the warm water even if it meant excruciating pain in my feet.
A number of other stupid things all conspired today. Despite going through my very careful pre-ride ritual of laying everything out carefully, I somehow walked out the door without my cellphone. It was in a baggie with my credit card and money. So I had no phone. And no lunch because I didn't have any money. I might have called for ride at some point had I a phone. Of course I could have stopped at a convenience store and called collect or something.
I've been trying to take a day off work for more than a month with the intent to fit in a long ride like this. I have to plan these days at least two weeks in advance or else they won't materialize in my busy schedule. I've failed twice previously this year because of miserable weather ... yes, beautiful days while I am at work and then all hell breaks loose (snow, sleet, rain) on my day off. So this morning when the forecaster was calling for a chance of rain during the day and real showers moving in later that evening, I figured I had a good shot at getting the ride in before any real weather hit. Besides, I would have felt just lousy if I wimped out, went to work, and it turned out to be a nice day. So I set out and had almost 3 hours of chilly, but dry weather. The last 2 or so were much worse. The other poor aspect is that the forecaster called for a high of 52 degrees. It didn't creep above 40 during any of my ride. So I was underdressed as it was.
If there was anything good that came out of this misery, it was my performance. I've had a handful of rides in the 40s, one in the 60s and now I jump up to 80+ miles along with 3700 feet of climbing. A big jump. But my body was solid. My legs stayed strong through the whole ride; good thing as I needed them to keep me warm during the end. And I missed lunch. I did have a bottle of go-juice, a power bar, and a gu -- and gladly used all those -- but I didn't bonk and I kept up a good tempo right through to the end. I was hitting 18.5mph on the bike path (flat ground) pushing into a slight headwind. I also didn't stop other than to gu up once or twice. I am really psyched about the 100 miler coming up ... as long as it doesn't rain on a cold day, I'll never do anything that stupid again.
Sorry no pictures .. left the phone at home. Not much to see anyway.
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