The tell tale signs of hypothermia

I don't usually blog after commuting on the bike. It's a very repetitious thing, cycling the same roads, avoiding some places, seeking out others, you know the drill.

But today was a bit exceptional. Can you have a bit exceptional? Who cares. Yes it was very cold, and I understand why Jack Dawson didn't last very long once all he had to sustain him was Kate Winslett blathering on. Minus 7 Celsius was the official lowest temperature while I was riding to work this morning. Surprisingly very little ice about, although I was cautious just the same, particularly in the dark. One slightly dodgy moment in Barrow Gurney where there was very thick ice all over the road, where a farmer had considerately flushed his farmyard.

I had five layers on my top half, but I think I could have had fifty on and it would have made no difference. I never warmed up. K-1 wasn't playing ball either, as the back brake cable snapped on first application, so I had to go back and get the Red Madone out of her winter hibernation. Instead of warming up, my muscles seemed to get colder and colder, despite the sunrise as I swooshed down the hill towards Bristol, and very picturesque it was too.

Not too many cyclists out either, lightweights, just like all the New Year's resolutioneers at Kingswood on the first few Sundays of January, all gone back to pies and the sofa on a Sunday afternoon, once the novelty of fresh air and an elevated heart-rate has worn off. My HR was elevated today, trying to keep me warm I guess. Despite our central heating and two fleeces, I still have to wear a hat indoors. I'll have to get one of those Dickensian nightcaps with a tassel on the end. No, we don't want to go there, this is a family blog.

I read recently that there has been a spate (great word) of young women being hospitalised, or worse, in Newcastle, after going out in the evenings, getting lashed and passing out in the cold. Apparently they don't wear enough clothes to protect them from hypothermia.

On days like today, I get a little warm in my heart when I think of Winter, after all it shows the landscape at its best, especially at dawn, all misty and wispy. And temperatures like today, with dry roads, just have to be ridden in my view, for all sorts of reasons.