Useless When Wet

I’ve spent most of the last week running around like a mad woman, trying (and succeeding!) to keep up with my training regime while putting together a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter. Thus, I’ll keep today’s post brief. My every moment has been so crammed full of preparation that the ride I wrote about last week feels like a month ago. Everything since is a bit of a blur. This seems like a good sign. I’ve hit a rhythm so consequently training has been uneventful.

I stayed with my mom this week. She had her second vaccine last Friday and I stuck around just in case she needed anything. We did a photoshoot for Instagram and my Kickstarter over the weekend (my mom took her vaccine like a champ). I get my first vaccine on Saturday and am immensely relieved to say I’ll be fully vaccinated by the time I leave for my trip. I was afraid I’d wind up stuck between vaccines and have to postpone my departure or figure out how to get it on the road (the latter of which seemed pretty impossible). I’ve never been comfortable with the idea of doing this during a pandemic. I went on faith that I’d get the vaccine before I left, but the certainty of knowing when has helped with some of my trip anxiety.

“The person who posted this loop on the app might be a bit insane.”

Yesterday I did just over twenty miles on the North Shore (from Marblehead to Nahant and back). I used the Ride with GPS app to find a route that would fit my regime (more than 10 miles but less than 20). The person who posted this loop on the app might be a bit insane. It asked me to bike through a busy rotary and across a causeway with blatant signs that said no cyclists. I skipped the rotary because I’m not suicidal, and took the sidewalk to the causeway, only to see I couldn’t safely or legally take the route specified. I went back the way I came and wound up taking a nice bike ride on a paved walking path through small dunes, close enough to the water to hear the constant roar of the ocean. It was windy and subsequently pretty chilly, but I had warmed up enough through exercise to only feel the bite of the wind without it piercing through all the way to my bones. Fortunately, the exercise kept me warm. I went rogue on my way home. I am familiar enough with the area that I ditched the planned route that continued to fail to follow logic, and biked along the ocean back into Marblehead.

When I got home, I had an important realization. So often on chilly days the moment I stop biking I cannot stop shivering until I take a hot shower, even if I pile on the blankets to try to warm up. That’s fine when I have access to a shower, but realistically, they are going to be a rare luxury for me this summer. I didn’t feel that sweaty, but sometimes it’s more like steam is emitting from my pores than dripping sweat. At any rate, I was cold and shivering. It was enough moisture though to make it impossible to warm up.

My mom and I had errands to run and I didn’t have time to take a shower before we had to go. So, instead of a shower I changed into clean dry clothes. I immediately stopped shivering. I feel silly for not realizing this was a potential solution to the problem. I’ve put a lot of effort into researching what gear I should take. It took me a long time to even commit to a sleeping bag, bouncing back and forth between down and a synthetic fill. Down is supposed to be warmer and more compactable, but it’s useless when it gets wet (much like my cycling jersey).

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