Dec-29: Chilly Sunny Delight, with a NorthWesterly Wind

About 36F when I started at approx 11:10.  About 40F when I finished at 3:20. 

Dressed just about right for the conditions.  The only parts that got chilly and then COLD were my toes and the bottom of both feet.  I think the steel cleats and the shanks in the soles of the shoes got colder than on previous cold rides due to the extra wind today -- then the cold seeped through the materials of the shoes and through the socks into my feet.

I climbed up MVC to PUE at the end in the 39/17 instead of my usual 39/25 or 39/23.  A tailwind may have helped, but mostly I think I wanted to get out of the cold. 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I chose my course to minimize the climbing, and "take advantage" of the northwesterly wind on Coley.  Repeatedly.  Course description: 

1) PUE to Carpenter Pond / Coley corner (7.4 miles), then
2) down and up Coley (+ 7.3 miles),
3) over to Shady Grove to Olive Branch to Carpenter Pond back (+ 2.4 miles) to
4) down and up Coley (+ 7.3 miles),
5) out CP and Leesville roads to 1/4 mile past DocNichols, U-turn (+ 6 miles) to
6) Shady Grove to Olive Branch to Carpenter Pond back (+ 1.9 miles) to
7) down and up Coley (+ 7.3 miles),
8) over to Shady Grove to Olive Branch to Carpenter Pond back (+ 2.4 miles) to
9) down and up Coley (+ 7.3 miles),
10) out CP and Leesville roads to 1/4 mile past DocNichols, U-turn (+ 6 miiles) to
11) CP, MVC, PUE (+ 7.4 miles to "the barn"). 

Every time down Coley was harder than the up.  But the difference got more noticeable (the downs got harder and the ups easier) on the third and fourth loops -- because the wind had decided on its direction and was increasing in velocity (whereas earlier there were extraneous, long-lasting more-than-gusts from several directions, and the wind speed was not quite as great). 

Until nearly the last Coley loop, I thought I would need to do 4 loops of Shady Grove as well as the 4 loops of Coley.  On step (11) in the above description, I thought about looping Shady Grove just for the additional 1.9 miles -- but I decided my feet were plenty enough cold, and 62.4 miles was 0.2 more than I needed to qualify as a metric, so I headed for the barn. 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dec-29:

PUE:  for course, see above; w/ me, myself, and I; 62.4 m.; 4hrs, 1min; 15.5 mph.

1st Qt. tot: 20 rides; _755.3 m.; _47 hrs, 31 min; 15.9 mph.
2nd Qt. tot: 43 rides; 2124.3 m.; 134 hrs, 59 min; 15.7 mph.
3rd Qt. tot: 36 rides; 1947.2 m.; 121 hrs, 48 min; 16.0 mph.
Oct tot: 9 rides; 551.4m.; 35 hrs, 41 min; 15.4 mph.
Nov tot: 8 rides; 372.3m.; 23 hrs, 49 min; 15.7 mph.
Dec tot: 8 rides; 407.6m.; 26 hrs, 22 min; 15.5 mph. (time corrected)

YTD: 124 rides; 6158.3 m.; 390 hrs, 8 min; 15.8 mph.
 
(YTD:  9910.8 kms)