Fighting a Cold

WEATHER THERE: cloudy, -5C (-9C with windchill), 9 km/hr cross/headwinds
WEATHER BACK: cloudy, -4C (-9C with windchill), 13 km/hr head/crosswinds


I'm not going to lie to you, my bikey friends, it's been a rough couple of days. With the first snow of the year coating the ground and turning to fine ice and thick slush in some areas, it generally makes the bike-commuting a little slower and a bit more difficult. Add to that the fact that both my daughter and I appear to be getting sick - we have been since we got back from Mexico. My throat is sore, I have a whole whack of very charming post-nasal drip, and I've got sinus pressure behind my eyes. Luckily, my breathing is fine - no stuffy nose, no throat-so-raw-it-burns-to-breathe. The problem comes more from sleeping - I've had to drug myself with Tylenol Sinus for Nighttime in order to fall asleep at all because my throat is so uncomfortable, and then once I'm finally asleep my daughter is waking up complaining of (in whining/crying voice): "boogers, mommy!" and "ears dirty!" (what does that even mean??). For the past two days, my mild discomfort during the day has turned into fever-like symptoms in the evening - alternating between chills and sweats, feeling achey - and I feel even less capable of dealing with the midnight wake-ups of my daughter than ever.


At work today, I was operating somewhere around 65-70% of normal capacity because I'm feeling unwell but I'm not full-on sick. Still, I'm utterly exhausted, and I'm cold, and I was a bit under-dressed for how cold it really was out there for my bike-commute. And I know from experience that being under-dressed inevitably causes my muscles to feel slow, heavy, and easily worn out - on top of whatever effect being sick might also have on them. All this doesn't help when I'm being faced with the first icy embraces of winter. And it's only October, damnit!! I could maybe accept it more if it were November. We didn't even have a proper dumping of snow last year until DECEMBER! Why, oh why, did winter have to come so soon?



Sigh . . . I'm still hopeful it'll melt and we'll have a few more days of milder weather before winter is here to stay. I just hope this early dip in temperature doesn't mean we're in for a rough winter.

First Snow Day

WEATHER THERE: light snow, -1C (-6C with windchill), 18 km/hr tail/crosswinds

WEATHER BACK: cloudy, 0C (-5C with windchill), 18 km/hr head/crosswinds

The pool at Melia Puerto Vallarta - the all-inclusive resort I was staying at October 15-22

I spent October 15-22 in Mexico, where it was 33C every day, no wind, with bright sunshine and not a cloud in the sky. I basked in the heat and sun like the wild iguanas I found sunning themselves on secluded rocks on the resort grounds. I came back to Edmonton late Friday night, wishing I didn't have to leave beautiful Mexico so soon. But of course, as all good things do, my little vacation had to come to an end. I returned home and spent the weekend getting my life back in order and getting ready to return to work. That included spending part of Sunday getting my bike ready for a week of bike-commuting after being in storage for several days. I was kind of getting excited to get back on the bike - it had been a while, and I missed it. Besides, I had been riding Mike the Bike for the few days leading up to the vacation and I was looking forward to getting back on my fancy new mountain bike.

That excitement didn't last too long, mind you, because this morning I woke up to this:

Snow. Snow on the ground. Snow falling in wet icy flakes from the sky. Just . . . snow. Now, granted, I kind of like the snow and I do actually like winter riding, so this really isn't such a bad thing. Still - it's a far cry from reading a Stieg Larsen thriller on the beaches of Mexico in 33C heat. Also, I don't have my studded tires on so I was a bit weary that I might have a very cold, wet crash at some point today. Luckily, I didn't.

The most remarkable thing about today was that I expected the first snowfall of the year would force the belle-weather cyclists to put their bikes in storage and take the bus to work - but that wasn't the case at all! In fact, I ran across no less than 10 other cyclists on my way to work today, which is actually even more than I usually do! It was incredible! Perhaps I'm not the only one who enjoys a nice winter ride.

Still . . . I miss Mexico.