Nice, Inexpensive Wool Balaclava

Well, I just received my Minus33 100% Wool Base Layer Style 720 Balaclava, it was pretty inexpensive at ~$15 + free shipping.

The feel is pretty nice, I'm looking forward to trying it next week (and possibly more of the Minus 33 wool in the future.

My Commuter (Modified Trek Soho S)

Wide-View, originally uploaded by j.dmitch.

Figured it was about time to post some pics of my ride. If you click through you can see the entire Flickr set, with explanations of the various angles and shots and components.

Bike Umbrella?

So, I saw a post for Nubrella over at The Goat, and I thought "Why am I not hearing this on the Bike Blogs?"... well, they have a pic of a guy wearing it while bicycling on their "Why Nubrella?" page.

Not Riding Bugs Me...

I've often said that lack of sleep is really my main weakness when it comes to biking to work. Well, Tuesday that's what it was. Both my sons were restless all night... which meant neither my wife, nor I got much sleep. On top of that, I think (today) I'm getting sick (that's part of why my sons were restless. So, since the beginning of the year, I'm 1 for 3... of course if I were a professional baseball player I'd love to be batting 0.333...

Route Update

I figured I'd post my new route, Google Maps calls it right at 10.1 miles. Add another 0.1 for the distance from the intersection to my house.


View Larger Map

First Commute of 2008

Well, if you have a goal of riding to work everyday in 2009, you can't skip out on the first day because it's cold. Boy was it cold... but it didn't take long to warm up.

FYI, here's what I was wearing (top down)

Helmet
Ibex Meru Hat
Icebreaker Apex Hat
Icebreaker Quantum Chute Neckwarmer
(note, I have a merino Balaclava on the way to change out for the above.)
Ibex / BikeHugger.com Hugga Wool T <= Awesome, BTW
Full Zip Red Moon Wool Sweater
Icebreaker Conquest Jacket
Wind Breaker
Wool Gloves <= Yeah, that wasn't enough...
Ibex Balance Running Shorts <= Also Awesome
Wool Long Johns
Synthetic DWR Pant <= Look like dress slacks, super comfy...
Injini Wool Tetra Sock
Smartwool Hiking Socks
TNF Arnuva Boas

All told, I stayed toasty (even had to unzip the windbreaker a bit)... except for my finger (pretty cold) and toes (barely cold). Adjusting the neck warmer up and down as my face would warm and cool was a bit tricky with gloves.

Oh, and my eyes were cold for the first mile...