Sunday, December 2, 2007

frozen feet

There’s something about cycling shoes that make my feet cold. This happens to me on many rides during the year, but especially on the colder days. Today’s Brown Mountain ride with/on Missy Meta – who, as I decided today, will now be called Mississippi Queen (How many times am I going to change her name? Probably a lot more. A name is very important and changes with time. That’s why I changed my own name and wish I could change it again, but people in my world are too inflexible for that.) The temperature upon departure was 46 degrees – 54 upon completion. This was between 9am and noon, covering 27 miles. And the sun was out, so not exactly super cold, but as my riding friend described it in his return text declining the ride offer – “too brisk” – hence, I was solo, as is common. I don’t know what the temp was at the top - it’s about 3000 feet higher up there – I guess, I need to look at a topo map – anyway, it was probably not more than 46 degrees up there.

I was wearing wool socks, and riding up a frickin’ mountain for god’s sake (it’s okay, I mean that literally), so I’m a little surprised that I should be so cold in the feet - one more thing to add to my recent confusion over temperature and how it effects our bodies in unexpected ways.

Yesterday’s Toy Ride went great. We collected a whole lot of toys and warm clothes in our bike trailers for Hathaway-Sycamores Child and Family Services. And Santa got his amazing carries-everything-in-the-world sleigh back last night – he even gave me a Negra Modelo when I returned it – thanks, man. I wish I’d asked him how he keeps his feet warm…

2 comments:

shawnkielty said...

This made me think of my Mesa, Arizona frostbite experience.

mindful mule said...

Wow, thanks for that link. I checked out Annie’s story, too. I guess I may have had some minor frostbite. Or, borderline anyway. I definitely had the white numb waxy thing going on and my feet stuck to the floor when I got home – weird. Great to know, too, that “frostbite does permanent damage that makes you more susceptible to future frostbite,” because I’ve had this many, many times before. I guess my feet will just get colder and colder as I get older and older.

Hope your toes stay toasty this winter.

Maybe we should start riding in Ugg boots.