Kansas Weather Never Means Quite So Much Until

you're commuting by bike.

This morning, wonderful weather. This morning (at 6am) it was fairly pleasant (as Januarys go); partly-cloudy, slight winds (5mph) with a nice 37 degrees (and 27 degrees wind-chill). A great morning for biking; a great morning for enjoying the trip (especially since it's Friday); and a great morning of no crazy drivers.

This evening, however, was quite another thing.

As I prepared to head out for home (very late as has been usual for this first full freedom week), I checked the weather (as usual) just to make sure that I wasn't under-or-over dressed. Chilly, with very light snow flurries starting, but nothing too bad. Well, other than that the note also mentioned that winds were out of the North at approximately 15 with gusts to 25! Nonetheless, a nice way to start the ride home.

About half-way home, however, (as it usually seems to happen), the winds picked up even more (to the point of blowing me periodically a foot to my side), and the snow started pelting harder-and-heavier-and-stronger. By the time I was a mile from home, I could see that the snows were starting to blow in their little-rivulets across the street when an oncoming vehicle approached.

A nice surprise was encountering another biking commuter as I passed through downtown Overland Park, who was going the other way. Always a welcome sight in the cold, snowy, evenings. I suspect that he is who I've passed before, only when I'm on my way into work at the morning (although I haven't seen him whom I think it is for a few months now -- primarily due to my going into work an hour earlier than I did in the summer and early-Autumn.

I'll not be surprised if we wake tomorrow with an inch of snow on the ground. And, no doubt, it will be a sunny, warm day on Monday!

On to this morning...

The Monster Truck interrupted me. I was about to say how *incredibly cold* it was this morning. Oh. And about the wardrobe failure.

Wardrobe failure. It's gained a whole cult-meaning. But this time, it was just a pain.

Knowing that sooner-or-later I was going to encounter unbearably cold temperatures in my quest to ride through the year, I bought a pair of ski goggles. Not a great pair, mind you; but an adequate pair. A pair that was advertised as "no-fog," and certainly a pair that looked adequate for the job: seals around the eyes so that my hot breath wouldn't rise up through my Balaclava into my glasses and fog them over only to be frozen (as happened in mid-December).

But no. In fact, these goggles didn't even last as far as my regular glasses did in colder weather! A mere 2 miles into my ride and I had to stop because my goggles were not only fogged over, but the fog had frozen. Frozen to the point of not being able to see!

So I pulled over (in the middle of downtown Overland Park) to clean off the frost, the fog, and the ice. And I was fine...for almost another mile. But then, I was fogged-and-frozen-over yet again! In fact, I had to stop two more times between downtown Overland Park and my office to clean off my glasses (by taking of my gloves and spending some time making sure that not only the ice, but the moisture, was gone from my glasses). In fact, for the first time, I stopped on the 87th Street Quik Trip to take advantage of their heating and light. Not a good thing!

Note to self: buy better goggles. Note to self: well enough is not well enough.

Oh what a difference ten degrees makes! Wait. I said that already. Didn't I? No. I didn't. I just thought it -- yesterday (when I couldn't sign in to post this comment -- although it was a very different ten degrees).

Yesterday, I was going to write about how amazing it was that a mere ten degrees (from 21 to about 11 F) could make the difference in how long it was comfortable on my commute. I was going to say that with that seemingly slight difference that everything seemed to break down; the ability to breath through a balaclava; the ability to keep the cold from toes; the ability of gloves to protect hands from frost-bite; the ability of pain to overcome thoughts contrary...but then, the unexpected happened. I was unable to get on to post. But that's off point.

The point is that today was amazing! Incredible! Ok. It was much more reasonable. It was as if it were again a reasonable temperature -- such as 32 F. At 32 F (with 23 F wind-chill) that's pretty good! So; I broke out the favorites; fleece lingers, with Trek Gel half-gloves. A perfect combination. Or, at least, it is during warm times...or cool times. And it was again today! And today is all that matters. Ever. :)

But seriously, Folks...

Seriously. There has to be a "better glove!" We've "been to the moon!"

For the past couple days, while trying dutifully to make my way to and from work ten to twenty degrees below zero Celcius, I have frozen! Not quite literally, mind you -- not quite. All my nice, wonderful layers have kept me quite warm and toasty. Ok; perhaps sometimes too toasty. But toasty!

My legs? My arms? My face? My core? Yes! Yes! Yes! and Yes! My fingers, however? No. Not only "No," but NO! Not close! I have but a short commute. Not far. Not long. But yet, barely a third of the way towards destination, and I feel the unmistakeable feeling that the cold is breaking through the barrier; that it is rapidly piercing the layers meant to protect so that very soon the ache will start that lets me know that I'd better be at work soon -- very soon.

It's not as if I haven't tried. I feel I've sought advice from every corner and space. But every time I think I've found that Answer, I find that others have trod the same path only to find something lacking, wind resistance, water resistance -- cold resistance, so critical to merely adequate gloves when pushing forward into a headwind making more of a headwind.

I've now tried light gloves, heavy gloves, windproof gloves, liners in heavy gloves, and leather gloves inside heavy gloves. All I've found out so far is that my hands can sweat while my fingers freeze (which is not something I didn't already know).

So this weekend it's off to another round of stores searching the Holy Grail of Warm Toasty Fingeredness.