Knowing when to stay home! Priceless!



Steve,

Welcome to cloudy weather again, lol. I'd love to give you some of ours, because I'm tired of not seeing much sunshine at this point. But I'll bet you're enjoying the cooler temperatures. Hope you're back home safe and enjoying your bike soon. /img/vbsmilies/smilies/tongue.gif

Sierra


Originally Posted by stevegreer .

Well, I am in Bahrain right now, and just today saw the first clouds I have seen in over 4 months! And for the first time today it was actually in the 70's. Been mighty used to the 110+ degrees for a while now. Would love to be on my bike right about now!
 
Nice day for a change... low 70's,

I have been off the bike for nearly a week, Dad has been in the hospital with the flu and I have been staying close to home
and going over twice a day to fix meals for Mom.

Little windy, but very ride-able. 43.5 miles in three hours..

Yesterday I got in 23 but it was just a little brisk! In the upper 40's when I left the house.

Tomorrow is forecast to be warm but windy.. 35+ mph but I will try to get in some miles.

Five days off the bike and the first few miles were a strain but it leveled out after that.
I need to get the exercise bike ready for the bad weather.. Need to fix the seat.
 
[COLOR= #0000ff]Brad,[/COLOR]

[COLOR= #0000ff]I'm worried about the winter season and being able to train, myself -- especially since I've just gotten started, and it feels like I'm going backward at this point. My thigh muscles always seem to hurt for the first 1-2 miles on my bike, but then it pretty much goes away after that. Between having the surgery last month, then bronchitis/pneumonia for 2 weeks, then rain, I've nearly forgotten how to ride, lol. I need to work up to at least 30-40 miles a day, and so far I've never gotten above 10 before I **** out. Gotta work on it!!! (with my new bike! /img/vbsmilies/smilies/biggrin.gif)[/COLOR]

[COLOR= #0000ff]I hope your Dad will be okay. It's very sweet that you go help your Mom. My parents are both gone now, but I smile remembering how surprised they would have been to see me out biking for miles.[/COLOR]

[COLOR= #0000ff]Have a good one. /img/vbsmilies/smilies/tongue.gif[/COLOR]

[COLOR= #0000ff]Sierra[/COLOR]
 
Dad is fine now, he is a retired Air Force general with 58 years of service, most of it flying!
He is just a little hard to deal with some times. He is 89 BTW. He should have gone to the
hospital a couple days earlier but, well, no one can tell him what to do.

Mom and Dad live less than three miles from us and I can make it on my bike in about
fifteen minutes. Some times it takes longer in the car.

Picture: I think this was about 1979?

 
[COLOR= #0000ff]Nice picture, Brad![/COLOR]

[COLOR= #0000ff]Is that you or your Dad? I guess when you're a retired general and 89 years old, you can do what you darned well please, lol. My father-in-law is 96, strong and kicking, and not ABOUT to let anybody tell him what to do. So we'll get his inheritance any time now, lol, because they can't seem to make him stop climbing trees to cut branches out of them!! He and your Dad are both fortunate to be relatively healthy at their ages. [/COLOR]

[COLOR= #0000ff]Have fun with them! /img/vbsmilies/smilies/tongue.gif[/COLOR]

[COLOR= #0000ff]Sierra[/COLOR]
 
Hey hey!


[COLOR= rgb(0, 0, 255)]They have what they call booties for your shoes, that are basically thin water-proof fitted baggies that go over your shoes and socks to keep them from getting soaked and cold. Would have been a good thing, if I'd owned any,[/COLOR]
I bought a pair of shoe covers on a website called bikester, they're really good at keeping your feet all toasty and warm. Definitely worth purchasing!
 
My experience with booties is they will keep you warm in the dry, but if it's raining your feet still eventually get wet.

Don't forget there's a big hole in the boot for the cleat. Mine also have another for the heel.
 
Originally Posted by SierraSlim .

[COLOR= #0000ff]Hi Guys![/COLOR]

[COLOR= #0000ff]BHOFM, I did check the weather before I left. The hourly forecast said it wasn't going to rain for a couple of hours yet. Wrong, lol. And I guess knowing at what temperature I'll feel cold just takes a little experience -- plus eventually I'll have the proper riding clothes, which should help. But 2 hours for 3 miles?? Sounds awful!![/COLOR]

[COLOR= #0000ff]Blazing, I'm sorry you were stuck cleaning up trees, and glad none fell on your house!! I love to go out on days as pretty as you described too. It makes me not want to quit. Right now I can only take about an hour's worth of biking at a time, but it's increasing, and I look forward to the time when I can stay out most of the day, enjoying the pretty things in this world. It has rained for the past 3 days, and I'm pretty sick of it at this point, lol.[/COLOR]

[COLOR= #0000ff]Have a great day, you two. /img/vbsmilies/smilies/tongue.gif[/COLOR]

[COLOR= #0000ff]Sierra[/COLOR]
Use weather.com and check the animated weather map. It's pretty accurate at showing where the 'rain' is, or has been, for the past few hours.

For the typical late fall ride in the rain you'll want to dress for warmth and pretty much forget about the 'waterproof' factor - apart from the feet. Too much in the way of waterproof garb will make you sweat excessively and cause you to "rain from the inside" which is just as bad when you stop and get cold. You don't need fancy gear, several layers - for the most part I just wear a cheap haynes t-shirt, shortsleeve bike top, arm warmers and a reasonably thick long sleeve top, shorts, warm bottoms, socks, shoe covers and as I don't have any water proof shoe covers - a big ziplock baggie with a hole cutout for the cleats that goes inbetween the shoe and shoe cover. A little "beanie" goes under the helmet if required and along with the warm gloves is always taken with me in the back pocket and the slightly rainproof top goes in the saddlebag. When it gets into the low 40's and colder the regular long sleeve top will be replaced with something that offers a bit more frontal wind protection.

If it's windy then I'll stuff a couple of sheets of newspaper underneath the top layer of clothing to help keep the wind off my chest a little more - those free ads papers have to be good for something. Paper is a great insulator.

I don't mind the wind or rain as long as I'm reasonably warm. I don't dig soaked feet though, especially if you're riding hard. Any movement in your water logged shoes, especially if your feet have been water logged for an hour or so (think wrinkled bath feet), bring on blisters etc far more easily.

Nothing fancy - newspaper, zip lock bags and basic clothing keeps me warm and toasty when stomping around my neck of the woods. Apart from not wanting to sweat too much, I prefer to keep the waterproof top available rather than wear it from the get go just incase you need to (or are forced to) stop for an extended period in bad weather - something silly like two flat tires at once, an silly skid and fall on the bike, a mechanical issue that requires you to wait for someone to pick you up. Having something warm(er) at hand can be an as$ saver when it's down in the 40's and lower and windy/rainy and you're an hour or so from home.
 
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Yeah the weather. This is funny. I usually kind of do it like the Indians did. I look up in the sky or smell the air. Snow you can smell. Rain is something you can tell by the clouds and how the air feels. Wind is more of an all day thing that varies. If it's windy in the morning it will more than likely be windy all day. Sometimes I look at weather reports but clearly they are not always accurate.
 
I wonder why threads from five years ago are suddenly making a come back.
Checking the weather before you leave is one smart thing to do. I am just too busy or lazy not to do it because I tend to play it by ear and use my nose to tell if it will be a better weather or not. If the sky is clear and it is morning I will take the risk not to check the weather.