Colder Weather

“…I’m stuck in colder weather, maybe tomorrow will be better…” - Zac Brown

Today I violated one of my core principles. Something I have adhered to for virtually all of my adult life. As any of my golf buddies know, I do NOT enjoy playing when it’s below 60 degrees. I have made exceptions if it’s in the 50’s and the sun is out and I have had to make some accommodation based on our choice of place to live. Let’s face it, if I was a strict adherent to the 60 degree rule, I’d get about 4 rounds of golf in a year in the Couv. But the absolute baseline is the simple fact that if I can’t wear shorts, it’s not golf weather. Being an inherently lazy person, I extend that rule to many other forms of exercise, always with a ready excuse not to do it. Again, in the Couv, the weather is a very convenient one. In my life, prior to today, I had worn some sort of leggings exactly once to ride a bike. Inexplicably, the last two items I threw in the van before I left the house were a windbreaker and a pair of long underwear/tights/leggings. I have no idea what they’re actually called.

I believe when we started this morning it was in the mid-40’s. I had bike shorts, leggings over them, and a pair of gum shorts over that. I had a long-sleeve shirt and the windbreaker. I was still cold. Fortunately, the breeze was mostly behind us and the sun was out. After an hour or so, we were able to take off the jackets. About 30 seconds after we started back up, the sun went away, not to consistently emerge for the rest of the day. With the wind at our backs, it wasn’t horrible, but every time we turned into the wind (usually just to cross over the freeway to the feeder road on the opposite side), the temperature seemed to drop 20 degrees. About 8 miles before the end of our ride for the day, we stopped at a convenience store, at which point I put the jacket back on and left it on the rest of the day.

Speaking of leaving things on - or not - and possibly bordering on the precipice of over-sharing, today was laundry day. We had lunch at Carla’s Jr. - because our first choice, Cafe Elk City, is closed on Saturday and Sunday (?!?) and our second choice, Prairiefire Grille, didn’t open until 5 and our third choice, Sonic, didn’t have indoor seating. When we got to the laundromat after lunch, I changed into my last clean shirt and put on the gym shorts. EVERYTHING else went into the washing machine. By the time we were done, we only had about 2 miles to the hotel, 10 minutes, five or take, so I made the highly questionable decision not to put my bike gear back on. In fact, other than the windbreaker and shoes, I didn’t put ANYTHING else back on. That was a very long 10 minutes. I told you I was inherently lazy.

We are now halfway through this segment. As hard as it is to imagine, the towns are fewer and farther between for the next 3 days. Hotels are also difficult to come by, so our rides will be limited more by where we can stay, than how far we’re physically able to ride.

I know we’re heading toward Amarillo when I see that sign! Also, we spent most of our ride this close to I-40, on one side of it or the other. With the general inability for trees to grow here, it made somewhat difficult to find adequate places for a bathroom break.

Pretty sure that Route 66 wasn’t around in the Middle Ages, but based on the condition of the road in some places, I wouldn’t be completely surprised.

1964 called and wanted their airline back.

I’m pretty sure that Fred’s Steakhouse saw us park our bike’s outside and put this sign up while we were eating dinner.