It is early Christmas evening. We are all sitting around recovering from dinner. It's in the 50's outside and has been overcast and raining most of the day.Last Saturday is the day I volunteered to take a group of older Scouts (14 to 18 years old) out on a 30 mile ride. It was a simple ride up through Papago Park (by the east side of the Phoenix Zoo) and then north and east to the Indian Bend Wash bike trail. My wife could not come with us, but my oldest son decided to brave the cold and come along.And it was chilly. I had wanted to leave a little later in the morning, around 9 am. However I was told one of the boys had to be back home by 11 am for another activity. So we all showed up around 6:30 am in our Church's parking lot only to find out that that boy didn't show up! The Scout leaders said they'd make sure he heard about this...When we left my house it was 33 degrees. But with our 10 to 12 mph "ride generated" wind chill, it was colder. My son and I had gone out on a short ride the day before just to see how "bad" it would be (temperature-wise). After that short ride, I headed off to the bike shop to pick up a balaclava (looks like a police SWAT mask -- just a slot for your eyes) and some arm warmers.
On Saturday morning, I had on a long-sleeve t-shirt, a bright yellow short-sleeve jersey, a wind breaker vest, and a long-sleeve, hooded sweater, along with my bike gloves and a pair of cloth cloves on over them. I also wore long pants. It was still somewhat cool (especially my finger tips and, even though it was covered, my nose).
We were off and cycling. One of the boys decided to whoop and holler as we went along and we had to continually remind him that people were sleeping and to be quiet (read that as, "BE QUIET! Or the support vehicle will pick you up and take you home!"). One other boy kept yelling, "Merry Christmas!" to everyone he saw... that wasn't that bad though... most responded with a "Merry Christmas" back. (Interestingly enough, at the top of the ride at Chaparral Park in Scottsdale, we saw "Santa" walking his dogs... a jolly old individual with a white beard and red and white Santa hat and little round spectacles; he most merrily responded "Merry Christmas!" to our "Merry Christmas!")
We rested for a few minutes up at the park and then headed back home on the bike path. We were on the trail about four hours. What was really amazing was that most of the boys were riding those single-speed, tiny- wheeled trick bikes. But they kept up and, being young Scouts, were not that worn out at the end of the ride. The leaders did well too (though some tended to lag behind on the ride...).
After the ride, I went out and got some long-fingered riding gloves. I want to try them out, but it has been raining here the past couple of days, and I have also come down with a bad cold (right after the very cold ride). My wife says we are not going until I feel better. My oldest son and my number two son, who is visiting from Minnesota, both want to go with us on an extended ride; we'll probably go this coming Saturday or sometime over the New Year's week.
