that was a mistake

tired of having not ridden since last thursday, i went for a ride yesterday morning. first mistake: i left my booties at home. second mistake: i went for a ride.

the roads were slick, which always freaks me out. but much worse than that, it was 40 degrees out, according to my thermometer.

i got to the fountain at sawyer camp trail, and turned around. my toes were freezing, i had almost no feeling in my thumbs, and my nose was chilled.

i'd taken off my sunglasses early on because they'd fogged up so much i couldn't see. facing the return ride, the sun reflected brutally off the wet pavement, literally blinding me. it quickly became apparent that i had to choose between the poor detail perception of my fogged up sunglasses, and the total blindness of going without. i put them on and rode even slower, since i couldn't see potholes or even people. unfortunately, slower wasn't better because then i cooled down too much.

somehow, i managed to make it home. i've never gone so slowly down crystal springs, but i feared slippage on the wet road, and going too fast gave too much wind chill.

when i got home and off my bike, i had a loss of balance, nausea, and more irritability than usual -- all signs of mild hypothermia. my toes thawed out in the hot shower, quite painfully. i was reminded of alien 3 (which we'd watched the other night) where they heat up the alien, then dump cold water on him, and he blows up. my toes felt just like that.

all in all, it sucked. and i only got in 14 miles. but it was still better than a ride on the trainer.