Thursday, September 22, 2005

How Low Can You Go?

I see tomorrow’s commute time temperature is 48. Too bad tomorrow is a vacation day for me. I feel it’s important to go at 48 so that it’s easier to go at 43. Going at 43 makes 38 seem reasonable…and you get the picture.


(That’s the temp in the lower left.)

Speaking of temperature I use the back door at work to access the “phone booth” where I transform from sweaty-bike-boy to business-casual-IT-boy. The back door happens to be the smoker’s door. Smokers often include an executive of the company. I’ll never get tired of the irony when the sweaty bike riding peon wishes the smoking executive a good morning. I work in health insurance.

Today, prior to my transformation from business casual to boy-who-wears-clothes-previously-sweated-in, a smoking workmate declared, “You’ll be switching back to driving to work soon, eh?” “Ehhhh…we’ll see.” “Biking in the winter!!??!! What about ice?”, she responded. I kept walking; I’ll let my studded tires answer that one. These people think I’m crazy now!

Speaking of fellow crazies! Geoff at Rubber Side Down lives and rides in Calgary. It was 3c this morning in his commuting world. I’m not sure what that means but I suspect it has something to do with low temperatures. He e-mailed me the other day and invited me to join their Winter Commuter Challenge. 1 point per complete commute above -1c and one point per degree for complete commutes below -1c. As soon as I figure out what this c stuff is about I’ll be ready to roll.

Uncle Albers? LBS Owner? Dad? Are you guys IN! I’m practicing right now. Shorts, t-shirt, ice cream bar, window open, 48 degrees outside, 64 inside (honestly I feel colder than that). Come on!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think it stands for Canada. In fact I would bet on it.

Anonymous said...

Wow, it must be true; Americans really do use Imperial measures!

I'd heard all the anecdotes about a little millimetre/inch confusion causing NASA spacecraft to crash but had written it all off as urban myth.

mytzpyk said...

Ah, the written medium and its inability to convey sarcasm...

Dear European and Canadian reader(s?),

I'm an American, not totally stupid. I've known for years that there's more out there in the world than I realize, especially in regards to weights and measures. Seriously. I think all the way back to 2000 when our TV's first began saying new words like celcius, meter, and kilometer to us. One of the enduring legacy's of our favorite son Lance Armstrong will be the introduction of the metric system to our country. And we'll never forget the beautiful teachings of Phil Ligget and Paul Sherwen on the matter.

Just this spring I joined a local group ride advertised as a metric century. That's kinda like a 100 miles right?

---

In all seriousness I will say this. I remember well a time in elementary school when a new initiative began to convert the coutry to the metric system. This time WE REALLY MEAN IT. So we began the process of learning about this strange new idea (it was elemetary school so every idea was strange and new). And then it sort of disappeared. We probably figured the rest of the world converted to us.

Eric A. said...

I'm up for the winter commuting challenge.
I was planning on riding to work in all seasons this year.
So I might as well make a game of it.
After our little cold riding adventures this past winter.
10 degree F doesn't seem so bad.
Usually my 1am temp cutoff to ride is 20-25 degrees F.
This year it may be 0F.
-1C doesn't seem bad after being out at 0F.

Anonymous said...

What's a millimetre? Is that kind of like a millimeter?