Snow and Sand*

(*Well, most of my ride was on pavement, but I did ride a stretch of snow covered grass and the sands of 2nd beach.)

This morning I was reading blogs and building up motivation to venture out into the cold. I find the blog Up In Alaska is often what sends me out the door with my bike. After seeing the weather she goes out in, really, what do I have to complain about?! Anyway, today I gained motivation from Jill writing the following:

And yet, for all the times I remember reluctantly gearing up and wheeling my bike out into the blah weather, I don't recall a single ride when I came home and thought "I wish that never happened."

I feel the same way. So, keeping that thought in my mind, I bundled up and headed out with my 'cross bike. I snapped a picture as I was having second thoughts in the driveway.

The temps during today's ride ranged from 18-23F with a windchill ranging from 8-15F, one of my coldest rides ever. My Nuun had a block of ice in it within the first 5 miles. My toes felt like ice cubes. I don't have covers for my cx shoes, so I was just in double wool socks. By 10 miles out, my feet were really uncomfortable and I was thinking the rest of the ride was going to be pretty difficult.

But then, coming down the hill at the end of 2nd Beach, I looked down the length of the long, wide beach at low tide and got an idea. Beach Ride Time! I'd never done it before, though I've thought about it for some time. Instantly I forgot about my cold feet and felt perfectly fine out there. I was pretty tentative getting out onto the beach as I really didn't want to fall over in front of people sitting in their cars in the parking lot. They already seemed to think I was pretty insane and falling down would have looked ridiculous. So, I dabbed and picked my way over the deeper softer sand and then got pedaling for real out on the flat, packed sands. Oh, it was sooo fun!!

These two pics were taken in the same spot, first looking one way and then the other.



Would you believe today was my first day on the beach this year?! Hot summer days didn't get me there, but give me a December day with single digit wind chill and I'm out there, apparently!

Here's the frozen water bottle shot. The camera lens was fogging up from suddenly being warm in the house.

I ended up doing 21.36 miles in all and after the first 10 miles managed to stay warm. I probably wouldn't have been cold at all with booties.