brass monkey

it could have frozen the balls off one today. the start was tough - the first club run of the new year - a pre-dawn rise in freezing conditions. never a great combination. my face felt numb after the 10 minute ride in the dark to the meet point. dawn turned out to be beautiful but just after the short descent when we made our stop to regroup, I noticed my water had frozen over. the bottle top had become solid with ice and inside was a gatorade slush puppy which I can only dream of in the summer. you certainly need to keep a keen eye on any water on the road in winter after the slippy leaves in autumn. the wind chill coming down a mountain certainly doesn't help - today my climbing partner got to hear previously unreleased swearing - the really bad stuff - my tourettes at it's best. going up was a struggle too - fitness has definitely taken a nose-dive since mid december and the legs and lungs were not responding. there was even wheezing at the end. it can only improve.