Once Again, Only Colder

Yesterday's strong gusty wind was still with us this morning, and when I noticed that the temperature was about nine degrees colder I almost stayed under the covers. But with a long weekend of snow and sub-freezing temperatures awaiting me in Iowa City, I just put on an extra layer, slapped on the chap-stick, and headed out. I have come to be quite fond of the cozy warm knee-warmers I picked up a few months ago, and whenever I wear them underneath my long tights, my legs stay nice a warm even when it's windy like today.

As you might have guessed, there were only a few people for today's ride. In fact, when I arrived at the usual upriver meeting spot (a bit late), it was deserted. I peered down the bike path searching for blinky red lights, but saw none, so I resigned myself to a long, lonely and hard ride. You know I was glad a mile later when I came across Jeff, Donald and Keith at the playground. Three people to battle today's winds made all the difference, especially since the long straight stretch from the playground to the country club was practically straight into the wind.

I think that Donald must have artificial knees or something. Here I am with two layers over most of my legs and still quite comfortable, and Donald is out there in shorts. Go figure. It certainly wasn't slowing him down any. Somewhere along the way Howard joined in for a while, but eventually he and Jeff headed off for home leaving the three of us to make the final run in to the playground. After that I was on my own. This morning I took a little detour to check out some of the tornado damage on Zimple and Freret Streets. The worst spots were still inaccessible because of trucks and debris blocking the roads. I snapped a few photos from the corner. Numerous large houses had just been cleanly de-roofed. There was nothing left above the ceiling joists. I looked at the photos later, and they just don't even begin to compare with what it looks like in person. These were solid overbuilt houses built between 1860 and 1920, for the most part, and I suppose that's the only reason that they weren't completely obliterated. It's both incredible and scary, because there's no feasible way to build a house to withstand that sort of thing.

The forecast for Friday in IC is calling for warmer temperatures (i.e. into the 20s), but with snow starting around nightfall. I don't suppose ice will be a problem since it hasn't been above freezing up there since we visited a couple of weeks ago. If you think you're tough about the cold and need to be brought back to reality, you can follow Jill's 100 mile ride at the Sustina 100 website this weekend. Granted, this sort of thing is just one step short of complete insanity, but it's impressive nonetheless.