Biker's Laziness

When I biked to work in DC, I went to painstaking lengths to wear the proper amount of layers. The ride was only about 5 miles, but included a few big downhills on the way into work, which let me pick up some serious speed and a serious chill in the winter. I carefully put on silk socks to cover my ankles, layers of fleece and long-sleeve tee shirts, a turtle to cover my neck and chin, and my liner gloves. All for about a 20 minute bike ride.

I have been much more lax since moving to Denver, which is how I found myself biking to work in my flip flops last Friday only to discover it was still in the upper 20s. My poor toes were in some serious pain by the time I arrive at my office, a mere ten minutes later. The two previous mornings had been in the 40s and I assumed the temperature would be similar. How silly of me, this is Denver after all.

In my mind, its only a ten minute ride in stop and go traffic, so if I'm cold, it will be over soon and I'll be toasty in my office in no time. Tell that to my toes. While I used to see what the temperature was and layer accordingly, now I just wear the same thing everyday and check that its above 10 degrees. But I've learned my lesson to wear real shoes (or at least socks, since yesterday I biked in my clogs), until the springtime.