My rides were pretty uneventful. Often enough something kind of funny, interesting, or crazy happens. Like on my first ride - my last post - I was less than a half mile from the house and I was looking down at my bike computer to see what my total mileage was. As I looked up a large doe was crossing the road about 50ft. in front of me and I traveling at about 25mph had to lock up my wheels. I skidded narrowly close as the doe's hooves slipped on the pavement trying to escape collision. That was definitely one of the better memories I have of riding. But nothing like that happened this week.
Although, with the fair amount of winter weather we've had the plow trucks have been throwing down a lot of salt and the one day as a dump truck passed me he stirred up a lot of dust and all of the sudden I tasted an intense flavor of salt. At first I wasn't able to figure out what was going on and then it hit me "with all the salt on the road some got mixed with the air and went in my mouth." Kind of gross when I think about all the horse and cow manure that falls onto the back roads of Perry County. I guess that's not as bad as having it spray off my tires and on my face and back.
There was one other thing that happened while I was riding that I'm kind of proud of. Monday, the 4th, was probably the second coldest ride at 25 degrees and steady 20mph winds. I rode a hard fought 15 miles in a blistering (the tone on "blistering" is sarcastic) 47 minutes and when I reached the end I grabbed my water bottle for a well deserved drink only to find that it had started to slush up. My water had actually started freezing on the ride!! I couldn't believe that I had been riding in weather that allowed my water to freeze. Probably even more interesting was that I had sweated enough that I wanted to drink. Didn't think I would be thirsty in 20 degree weather.
That pretty much sums up my whole riding week. It wasn't terrible but it sure wasn't the best. It's supposed to warm up a little this coming week so I'll have to take advantage of that, maybe add a few extra miles. As much as I love the winter and snow it sure will be nice when spring rolls around.
Winter Ride from Jesse McDonald on Vimeo.
I figured I would try to take you on a ride with me using some time lapse. But of course due to the cold the camera turned off, but only a mile from the end.
47 miles this week - 2943 to go
5 comments:
Dang, Jesse. You. are. INTENSE. And I loved that time lapse thing. I totally want to do that sometime, but I don't really know how? Is it just a setting on your DSLR or just a point and shoot?
OH, and I just found about the Mother's Day movie that you made for mom. Haha! That was AWESOME!! What did you use to film it? And how'd you edit it/make it?
Anyway, I like your blog. It's fun to read.
that. was. COOL.
I love the video! And that you don't stop at stop signs, you rebel!
Molly - It was all with a point and shoot for both videos. The time lapse is a video option on the camera. I'm not coordinated enough to take 300 images while riding. And any movie I make is in Windows Movie Maker, nothing special.
Matt - Don't. make. fun. of. molly. she. can't. help. that. she. doesn't. under.stand. dipthongs. dangling. modifiers. gerunds. or. conjunctures.
Hope - All I have to say is "LIVE FREE AND DIE YOUNG!" (perry county accent)
Nice video - definitely gets the adrenaline pumping.
I had the same water-bottle-freezing problem last year when riding to work. When the temperature was below 10 degrees, I wouldn't even bother trying to carry a bottle. An ice patch sometimes formed around the mouth area of my balaclava too due to the moisture from breathing.
Keep the riding posts coming!
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