Cold Weather and Toes...

Here is a nice little e-mail I got from a riding friend up in Calgary:

I managed to ride in this morning…which was pretty nice considering the air temperature was hovering around -30F (-55F w/ WC). I figured you’d understand…because everyone else thinks I was crazy…

Besides, my free hub would periodically seize….meaning that I had to run some of the way. It was awesome.

Cheers

Wowsers! Can I post it on my blog? It’ll make the 41F high today seem like a sweltering Summer day ;P.

Uh…well if you want. I should have gotten a photo of my head…which was wrapped up like a big frozen snow cone. I finally got to break out my Gortex riding jacket again…I haven’t had to use it of a couple of years. The funny thing was that I had plastic bread bags between sock layers to keep my toes warm.

Now I feel like a wuss. I ride and run in GoreTex anywhere near 32F. I remember a few CX races with wool socks over my MTB shoes, held on by duct tape… which became a wind barrier… I’ve since destroyed that pair of shoes… and the wool socks which were cut to expose the cleat and shoe tread… ah, the good ol’ days…

My feet started to get seriously cold on a 3km stretch that had a 30km/hr crosswind (bare road/no cover)…I was out for just under an hour (which was pretty good for 20kms).

After that little exchange, he sent me the sweet deal that for some reason isn't too popular here in the states: these Exustar winter boots -

They're pretty good looking versus the Lakes and Sidis that I see everywhere. But the thing that floored me was they are $79CAN from MEC. And even a little cheaper at a couple of other places. This may belong on my CycleCentric page for some testing or even on DealWheel for being such a hot item, but they're pretty tempting. The toughy for most of us here in the States is that you need to be a member to buy from MEC. Fortunately for me... I am a member!

Also a little side thought, it is ugly cold out today. Negative teens out after the flash freeze last night. Near 50F yesterday to, oh, about 3F. May have to strap on the trainer tonight for an hour or two (yuk!).