October 29, 2009

I'm no fair weather rider

Today a snow storm hit Santa Fe. It lasted a few hours. One of the things I love about New Mexico is that I can ride my bicycle pretty much year round. As long as the snow isn't sticking to the roads or there isn't ice on the roads I can still ride.

Let me back track just a bit. For the last 3 weeks I've been on paternity leave & haven't shaved so I have grown one heck of a beard.

So, on with the story. Today I saw that there was an inch or so of snow sticking to the ground, but none at all sticking to the roads, so I threw on my cold weather cycling gear & took off for a ride! After about 20 minutes of riding the people who drove by were pointing at me. I get that a lot when I ride during the winter. Last year I went on a 3.5 hr bike ride in 19 degree weather. I actually had someone who drove past me turn back around & record me on their camcorder as I rode past them:) This time it was a while before I figured out why people were so amused with me. The snow that would normally hit my clean shaved face would melt. Today the snow was hitting my beard & instead of melting it was freezing & building up. After 45 minutes I had over a half inch of snow frozen onto my bearded face. Here's an interesting fact- the snow freezing onto my beard prevented the cold wind from hitting my face. So my face was warm & comfortable the entire ride.

3 comments:

Big Clyde said...

Funny. Would have liked to seen a pic of that snowy beard. Did Santa ever ride a bike?

Clyde

Mike said...

Pictures, we need pictures :) Good on ya for getting out there!

Podium quest said...

Unfortunantly the last half hour of my ride the storm blew out & I slowed down for my cool down so all the snow fell off in clumps. By the time i got home it had all fallen. That was such a neat thing if I'd had my phone I'd of had my wife drive out to take pictures. thanks for the comments:)