Half Full

I've noticed some bloggers have momentarily gotten discouraged by the warm sun lately in this; what may turn out to be the hottest week of the year in North Texas. They see the bike commuting glass as half empty; sacrificed to air conditioned comfort. I feel, however, it's appropriate to note that we are now in the midst of some of the most glorious morning commutes of the year, with dry weather and lots of morning light. The ride home is merely a reasonable price that is paid for the ride to work. I'll confess that I drove in on Monday, with its 108F forecast, but it has been GREAT riding the rest of the week, even including a brief cooling shower on the way home tonight. Even my motorists mostly seem a bit more sympathetic than usual (except the old couple in the Subaru station wagon), though the heat isn't as bad as any of them probably imagine. You see, I don't have to worry about burning my hands on the steering wheel or squirming around on hot seats. What's more, the ride home cuts down on the home AC bills, because it really feels chilly at 76F when I walk in the door.

North Texas Sun. The Temperature? Barely 101F

Perhaps I'm merely better acclimated this year than in the past, but I've ridden to work more this week than I did in the entire month of June. The heat is also a great opportunity to improve my heat tolerance for the upcoming Hotter 'N Hell 100 at the end of the month. This morning, on the ride in, I was amused to hear an informal radio poll, where people called in to tell whether they liked summer heat or winter cold better. Mostly, the calls were along the lines of "I"ll get arrested if I take too much off, but I can always put more on." One that counted, however, was a guy that said "I've worked outside for 20 years and I'll take the heat anytime. In the winter, my nose hurts, and my fingers ache, and..." My sentiments exactly, and I grew up in Seattle. Another well considered comment was "In the summer, you throw on shorts and you're ready to go. In the winter, you have to do all that layered stuff and it takes forever to get ready."

I may be a Pacific Northwest native, but as for this Texas heat, I say "bring it on - Woo hoo! Yee haw!" Speaking of Seattle, it gave a precious gift to North Texas fair weather cyclists - yes, the gift of free, triple filtered ice water at a major Seattle-based coffee chain.

A Little Sweat Drips Out Next to the Coffee

For those that have forgotten what it's like to ride in winter and are not out at dawn nowadays, I'll refer you to the photo, below.

Remember the "Layered Look?"