1st day of the year

I like to get out for a bike ride on the first day of the year. It just sets a good tone to the year, a good way to start. This has been an annual occurrence for the last 3-4 years at least, I may have missed a year, but I try to make it an annual tradition. This ride has taken many different forms over the years. The first one was while we were living in Springfield, and I rode from Springfield to Pana where I met dad, and together we rode to Teutopolis. I finished that day with close to 100 miles. Last year I rode with Torrey, we rode Mt. Bikes on a snow covered dirt road. It was a nice sunny day and we climbed for about an hour before having a couple of drinks on his porch afterward. Unfortunately today the temp was hovering around 5 degrees, with a -15 degree windchill, and 25-30 mph winds. It felt pretty nice sitting in the nice warm house while watching the swirling snow outside the window. I finally worked up the motivation around 5:00 pm, and put on a bunch of clothes. A long sleeve base layer, North Face vest, The Cycling House wind jacket, and my puffy REI Down Jacket - jogging pants, with casual street shoes, - face mask with snowboarding helmet and goggles, - and lobster claw gloves. I was all decked out for a short 20 minute ride through town. Since there was snow and ice on the road I hopped on the NINER for the jaunt through town. By the time I got done I had rode for 20 minutes, 3.5 miles, and my fingers were getting cold, but at least I had gotten a short ride in on New Years Day. :-)