My clothing choices worked well. A Smartwool medium jersey, a lightweight PolarFleece mid layer and an Alpenlite Shell. I was warm for the entire ride except for my toes which got a bit cold in the last 10 minutes or so. Today I tried a thin wool sock with a Polarfleece sock over the outside. I think it way just have been that my toes were a but stuffed into the Columbia Bugaboos. I am going back to a single, thick wool sock for the next ride.

My favorite piece of gear today? The Pearl Izumi balaclava!

My ride was 1hr-24min on my old Univega 507 commuter rig. Basically just a cruise down the Oak Leaf Trail to the lakefront, down to Summerfest, through downtown and back.

I stopped for a few minutes to watch the angry lake as the east wind was really kicking up the waves. Pretty cool.

We’d gotten about 2-3 inches of snow last night but the majority of it was cleaned off the trail and the streets. I had to go out of my way to find any to ride through and test out the traction of the old IRC studded tires. They seemed to work well but I think I want to try some narrower Nokias on my Smitty to see how they compare. I’ll report on that soon.

My clothing worked well today with an old Trek Polypro base layer, a Sahalie Furnace Shirt and the inner liner of my Columbia coat as an outer layer. A pair of Bellweather tights under Mt Borah pants and medium weight wool socks with Asolo boots on my feet and Pearl Izumi Lobster Claw gloves covering my paws and a Pearl Izumi Balaclava under my helmet completed the kit. The only thing that got cold were my toes at the very end of the ride. No biggie though.