It's been one of those weeks...

Holy shit. What a week.

On Tuesday I said screw everything I'm going for a nice ride. So I went out for a couple hours and had a really fun and relaxing ride. Saw a golden eagle but couldn't snap a shot of him. Then I ran into this fellow:

I also found this:

and I got some "rad" air off it.

It was a ton of fun. I cannot put my finger on it exactly but something about the river bottoms between 35W and Cedar really make me happy.

I don't even remember when but my 45Nrth Dillinger studded fat bike tires showed up. For what they are, they are pretty dang light. I think that for what I have planned for them, they will work out fabulously. 

45Nrth Dillinger

So many things have happened this week that I am just emotionally drained. The best thing to do in those kind of situations for me is to go on a super long ride. So I planned on doing a century on Friday. It was a disaster.

My feet were totally frozen before an hour had even passed. I could feel the cleat just draining the heat from my foot, so I put on the neoprene shoe covers. They did absolutely nothing. A few miles later my feet were totally numb. I was stubborn though and kept onward. I kept trucking for a bit and was okay because of the increase in body heat.  

At mile 32 I took a rest and started considering turning around... again I failed to do this. I should have, but I didn't. So I kept going and made it to Water Town on the Luce Line State Trail. I needed to stop to get water and such so I did and when I got back on the bike all of my motivation had been drained. My knees were screaming because of the cold and my love handles were frozen solid too. So I pushed on to mile 40 and then turned around and started heading back. I had to stop a bunch of time because the cold was just tearing it out of me. Next thing I know it is dark. So I kept going super slow in the dark for about ten miles then I ended up having to get a ride home. I was completely shot. It is time to reevaluate my cold weather gear. We just got offered an employee purchase deal from Gore Bike Wear and I ordered a few items so that will be nice, but for now my riding is going to be a bit limited. I am also going to have to switch over to platform pedals because the cleats just act as a heat sink and it killed my feet. 

I'm hoping to get a few rides in this week. We'll see. I certainly need them.