All Kinds of Fun

It was a really good weekend. On Saturday I was heading over to Oxford for a reunion of Miami University womens swimming. I knew 6 of my teammates from the years I swam would be there, so I was looking forward to catching up with these girls from my life 20 years ago. When I swam at Miami in 1985, we swam in a 6 lane 25 yard pool, diving boards in the deep end. It was SMALL! Now the girls get to swim in this fabulous facility:

The MAC conference championship meet was going on, and the reunion was on the last day of the meet. Its so fun that you can get together with the girls you spent so many hours with so many years ago, and despite all the years that go by still have so much to talk about and so much to laugh about. The hours flew by. And I was sad to say goodbye. Here are a few of my now grown up teammates.

Me and the 'older' girls':

Me and the 'younger' girls:


Then a quick visit with my parents who live close to Oxford. I got to have some Graeters double chocolate chip ice cream! I can get this now here in Btown, but I don't get it often. It feels like it should be more of a treat from my childhood home.

Back to Btown, and I eventually had to give in to the inevitable bike ride. I don't know why I procrastinate so when its cold outside. Much of our snow is gone, but the cold lingers, and the lake is still frozen:

To be completely honest, riding in mid 30's is not cold. Here are my dress for cold ride tips:
1) My feet always stay warm with this combination: wool socks, normal cycling shoes, toe covers, then goretex booties. Never a cold toe with that set of layers. 2) The legs and torso are easy, windblock is key. Usually all I need is one base layer and and outer windblocking layer.
3) And thanks to my friend Randi who recommended Manzella gloves, my hands don't get cold anymore. I have a pair on Manzella fleece windblocker gloves that are good to upper 20's. Today (mid 30's, no sum, 5-10mph wind), my hands even sweated occasionally. These gloves are amazing. I wore them on a run test at 5degrees, and had to take them off my hands were too warm. I have a thin pair of Manzella windblocker gloves too, they look thin and useless, but they are good for 40 degree bike rides, honestly I don't know how they work. But they do!
4) A light hat is needed below 40. Balaclava or neck warmer not required until its below 30 degrees.
ok, I have to be honest, I'm usually the last person to get cold.I'm wearing bike short longer into the fall than most people, so your mileage may vary with those tips above. But I swear by them. I NEVER used to ride outside in the winter. Why would anyone want to ride in the cold? Well, Randi has a rule, she will ride if its above 23 and she has converted me. I have ridden on the mtb in the upper teens (more wind blockage from the trees on the trails). I'll ride on the road in the upper 20's or warmer. The key is just learning what your body needs to avoid getting chilled. Once a body part , especially hands or feet, get cold, your ride will be miserable.

Back to the ride, I was riding alone so I planned several out and backs. My hip has been a little wonky lately, so I wanted to stay close enough to home if I had any problems. Plus I was alone and didn't want to be out in east bufu alone for all the crazies to harass me. On my home this morning, I drank 12oz of diet coke. I know its bad for you, but I needed caffeine to assure I'd stay alert for the 3 hr drive. When I got on the bike I spent the entire ride burping all the gas out of me. I could not stop. Burp, drink efs drink, ride, burp again, drink, feel like I have to pee, drink anyways, burp again, fluff too. Oh the joy! With 45 minutes left in the ride, I started to feel like I was bouncing along, like I was riding my suspension mtb. Of course a few more seconds and I realized it was a flat. But it was more of a slow flat, so I tried to put some co2 in it, but that didn't work. ok, change the flat. But first maybe I'll call Todd and have him just come and get me because I'm close enough to the length of the ride I had planned. He didn't answer , which was good, I need to htfu and change the flat and do the ride! Wheel off. Tube and lever and co2 out of saddle bag. Tube out of tire. New tube in, tire back on rim. Co2 in. done! sweet! I even had an audience and moral support from the farm dog where I had stopped:

I was probably stopped for 5 minutes, and now a little cold, especially the hands since I couldn't get the tire changed with gloves on. I was thinking I'm too cold, I'm taking the shortest route home. But 10 minutes later, my hands were warm again - you see, those gloves rock! And so I planned to finish the planned ride. again. 10 minutes later, I hear this thump thump thump. wtf! I slow down, still thumping, speed up, still thumping. I think its the road, I pull into a driveway and spin the front wheel slowly and watch as a golf ball size tumor on the side of the wheel appears. hmm. Must have had made a small error and overinflated the tube! oops! I let out some air, the tumor went down a little, but I know the ire is in a bad way. so, for the third time I decide I'll go straight home and will be 10 minutes short of the planned ride time. I was too anxious of having the tire blow out. I did make it home. The tire did not blow out. I was still blowing gas out of my belly when I got home. But I was home. and I had no frostbite. Survived another winter ride! And another flat tire. by myself! so proud of myself for fixing the flat myself and making it home.

A few notes about changing flats from the perspective of someone who does pretty well changing them. I used to only carry co2 in races, I thought it was just environmentally pathetic to use co2 and toss the used canister in the trash instead of using a frame pump. But the bottom line is frame pumps take way too long, and often don't work well anyways. In the cold, time is warmth, so co2 is a must for tire changing in the cold I used to have a co2 inflator that I sort of struggled with. I recently bought a new innovations inflator, Proflate 16 Bike Tire Inflator. It is a guarantee fill. You cannot screw up with this inflator (ok, yes, I did overinflate today, so I guess you can if you are a little careless, but I actually think I may have had a little issue with my tire because I've had a few flats on this tire in the past month so I think its time for a new one, and I'm going to blame the tire, not the inflation). I highly recommend this inflator.

ok, I have no more tips to share! now, who will win Olympic hockey gold???