Monday, January 29, 2007

don't believe the widget

Since the Northeast is experiencing an arctic cold blast, I havent been bike commuting much lately. I've been opting to work from home instead.
This morning though, I check my Dashboard Weather Widget and it says it's currently 40 degrees in Providence. Sweet!
I dress for an above-freezing commute and head out the door.
Within 2 minutes I'm thinking "This sure doesn't feel like 40" so, I stop and put on my vest. By the time I'm halfway to work it's obvious I've made a mistake... my hands, feet and face are frozen and the wind is whipping through my wool sweater, making my arms cold.

I get to work, go to weather.com and check the current conditions for Providence, RI... 21 degrees, with windchill it feels like 10 degrees. Nice. I make a mental note to never use the weather widget again.
At lunchtime I walk over to the Walmart (*blech*) they just built near my office and I buy a pair of thin dress socks to wear under my regular socks, and some glove liners to augment the thin knit gloves I wore today. I'll also wear my work shirt under my sweater for the ride home, that should help block some wind.

The ride home was not so bad. The temperature was actually a little colder than my morning commute but the wind had stopped so I was able to cruise a little faster and, just having warmer hands and feet made everything ok.

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