I went out for another ride this morning at 7:15. Took the fixed-gear bike, rode down to the airport, around the BWI trail, and back home. Total round trip around 22 miles. The temperatures were in the upper 20s, but the real story was the wind. It didn’t really become a factor until the second half of the ride when I was riding west on the south side of the airport. At that point, the ride became a real grind.
No PolarTec top on this ride, despite the sub-freezing temperatures. I stuck with a short sleeve top, arm warmers, long sleeve jersey, and windbreaker, which was pretty comfortable for the entire ride. I wore some slightly heavier wool socks, and happily, my feet stayed warm for most of the ride. They didn’t start getting cold until the last half hour, and never got really uncomfortably cold. Oh, and my water bottle froze up. I guess it’s really winter now.
The BWI trail was a mixed bag. On the north side of the airport (which I rode first), it was almost completely clear, with just a few icy spots where the runoff had frozen. The south side was an entirely different story. There were a lot of areas which were completely impassable due to plowed snow. This was mainly on sections adjacent to Aviation Blvd and Dorsey Rd. I had to hop over to the road to get through these. The wooded area near the Dixon Aircraft Observation had a bunch of snowy spots, most of which were passable, but several of which I had to stop and dismount to cross. There was also a downed tree blocking the trail in one spot. The long wooden bridge along MD 170 was still almost completely snow covered. None of this was enough to make me detour off the trail, but the ride did take almost 40 minutes longer than usual. I’m glad I did the north section of the trail first, or I may have decided to detour or abort the ride.
All in all, it was a decent ride. The first half was enjoyable, and the second half will help gear me up for those morning commutes when it’s 15 degrees out with a wind chill of 2. 😉 This will probably end up being my last ride of the week, with more bad weather threatening for Thursday and Friday.