Closing out the bike-riding season

Yesterday (2016-12-10) was the first day of this winter where Boston stayed below freezing for the entire 24 hours.

But the roads were dry, so I thought it might be fun to try a bike ride.

I bundled up and did a 19mi/31km loop along the Mystic, Alewife, and Malden Rivers.

When I left, it was 23F/-5C, with strong west winds. The stationary windchill (“feels like”) temp was 11F/-12C; adding in the forward motion of the bike against the wind yielded equivalent temps of around -2F/-19C.

In short, frickin’ cold.

But I bundled in layers (my torso looking like like the Michelin Man), and generated my own heat by pedaling, so it actually was interesting, and not unpleasant.

I only saw four other bike riders out and about --- all in Cambridge and Somerville, and all half my age or less.  Take that, youth culture!  :)

That may have been the last ride for the year. The first significant snowfall of the winter is predicted for tomorrow (2016-12-12); with ice and snow arriving.

If it's too slippery to ride from here on out, I’ll close out the year with 1600mi/2600km covered. (I didn’t get my bike until late Spring this year, and so missed a lot of potential riding weather early in the year.)

I’ll aim for 2000+mi/3200+km next year, which should be doable.

Onward!  :)