That explains it

[johnridley]

I was wondering why the freshly-charged headlight batteries only made it halfway in to work before kicking into low battery mode this morning. When I went to charge them just now, I discovered I'd put one of the four in backwards. Idiot. Well, I guess that light can actually run on 2 batteries in a pinch.

Last time I rode in was, I think, last Friday, maybe Thursday. Either my legs lost a lot in those days, or the Freddie mask I tried for the first time today really sapped me. I did have to take it slow to stay within my budget of oxygen that I could take in, but it only could have made me about 1 or 2 minutes slower; my ride time was 48 minutes and I typically don't do better than 45 this time of year.

Here's the idiot with the neoprene face mask and a stretch gaiter. I had to modify the mask out of the box; it made me short of breath even just standing there. If motorcyclists can ride with that little air, it's a more static activity than I thought. Though of course having air ramming in to it at 50 MPH might help.

Comments

[johnridley.livejournal.com]

Yeah, those are one implementation of Pogies. I've seen them, but I don't need them. My hands have been perfectly comfortable and warm at -25*F with the cheap $9 hunting gloves that I bought last fall. I've ridden at that cold a temp with even less gloves.

The major problem I've had is toes and face. The toes I took care of by wearing heavy leather thinsulate hunting boots. This takes care of the face (does it ever - I was sweating pretty heavily around the face with this on at 5*F yesterday).

I'd be a little nervous about having my hands in any way tied to the bike anyway.