The nose...

I realize that my topic may make some squeamish. That's not my goal. If reading about perfectly normal bodily functions bothers you, please turn away now.

I have mentioned many times that this is my first winter where I am riding consistently. One weird thing I have noticed is that my nose runs almost non-stop while I am out in the cold.

It's been bothering me. I know it is normal, but I wanted to know why it did that. So, I headed to the google to check it out.

It turns out that the nose tries to warm up the cold air before it enters the lungs. To do this, the blood vessels in the nose get wider. Wider blood vessels produce more mucus. That mucus has to go somewhere.

Now you know, and knowing is half the battle...

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It's too cold to ride

I woke up this morning and read the thermometer. Eighteen freaking degrees. It got colder and windier all day long. This ten degrees is a load of crap. The weather station is saying the wind is 27 mph. That's pretty steady. The gusts are about 40 mph.

10 degrees plus 27 mph winds equals -11 degrees wind chill.

A wind chill of negative 11 means I am staying inside.

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Dude, there is something seriously wrong with you.

I have not had much of a chance to ride during the last week. It has been a little bit sad and a lot cold. Last Monday I had one of my best rides in a long time. It was the trip home from church. When I left, it was cold and starting to snow. When I was one my way home, it was colder and snowing even more.

I have come to enjoy riding in the cold. It is not nearly as bad as anyone would think. Instead it is almost enjoyable. It's not the attention whore "look at me" kind of enjoyable. Instead, it is "here I am, where no one dares to go" kind of enjoyable. Imagine going for a walk in some fresh snow. It is the exact same feeling, except more intense. I was riding, surrounded by 30 degree temperatures. I watched the snow fall onto me and my bike. My arms were covered in snow. I saw snow blowing across the road, then I rode through that snow.

It is fun.

Today was the simple trip to Kroger. It was about 20 degrees. I've been trying to find the lower limit of riding. I think this is it. It was cold. It was damn cold. Not too cold for the short trip, but too cold for anything much further. As I left Kroger, some guy told me, "Dude, there is something seriously wrong with you." Nothing too wrong. Just a perverse please from riding in the cold.

Gas savings to date: $7.63

CO2 saved to date 47.99

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Too cold to ride today

I don't care what this says. The high temperature in my neck of the woods was a brisk 15 degrees F. That was without the wind chill. I am sure you can look around on the internet and find someone who would be out during weather like this, but I am not one of those people.

Instead, I stayed inside all day. I cooked a killer pot roast. I played around on the internets. While playing around, I found this website that gives some interesting statistics about bicycle commuting.

There are a couple of interesting facts (all cited) on the website, but these three really made a point to me. I know I often harp on the environmental aspect of cycling, but the health aspect is equally as important.

• Behind tobacco, the leading cause of death among adults is a sedentary lifestyle
• 61% of adults in the U.S. are overweight or obese. 13% of kids 6-11 and 14% of kids 12-19 are overweight. Obesity os second behind tobacco in U.S. health risk, contributing to 300,000 deaths a year.
• The number one strategy for reducing a sedentary lifestyle is to shift from driving to walking and/or bicycling

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