Bri writes a blog about winter bike commuting in rural upstate New York. It’s the snow belt and it gets fiercely cold. She looks forward to winter. Bri is a few spokes shy of a wheel.
Bri makes me feel like a wimp.
On Saturday afternoon a cold front came through. The wind howled and howled on Sunday. I was not looking forward to riding into that gale this morning.
When I fetched the newspaper from the driveway the winds were light-ish and the residual warmth from my PJs kept me comfortable. An hour or so later I stepped outside to ride the Mule to work.
Dang. It was cold. And it was colder still once I got underway and rode with a wind out of ten o’clock for the first 11 miles. I knew it was blowing hard when I took the Park Terrace downhill. I normally reach 32 miles per hour. Today I could only make 27.
There were no photos today. Just put your head down and pedal at a depressingly slow speed.
At Gravelly Point the trail turns to the east for 100 yards. Relief! Then when it takes a 90 degree turn to the north the crosswind nearly blew me off the path.
I managed to make it to work in about 90 minutes. About 15 minutes slower than normal.
The ride home was revenge. I had a strong tailwind the whole way. I saw a friend (I think) who hates cold weather riding toward me on a bikeshare bike near the Humpback Bridge across from the Jefferson Memorial. She had on a black parka with a hood drawn tight around her head. It framed her face. Her jaw was set and her normally joyful demeanor was locked somewhere between determined and miserable.
The rest of the ride home was not half bad. It made up for the craptastic morning commute.
More of the same tomorrow, minus about 5 or 10 degrees.
A Few Spokes Shy of a Wheel 
I don’t know how she does it either!! I think there’s something wrong in her genetic makeup! Where is she anyway??? We’ve not heard from her in a month.