Ride Report: Rolling too soon

I've been wanting to do a solid two-hour ride on Tuesday and Thursday mornings, but I can't set out at 5:30 a.m. anymore because it's too dark. My solution was to do a half hour on the rollers before hitting the road for about an hour or so when the sun came up.

I was well aware of the obvious downside: going outside into the cold a bit overheated and sweaty. But I thought that I could minimize this problem by changing my jersey and toweling off before I headed out the door.

It didn't work, though. Although I did my roller workout on the balcony in 12 degree Celsius weather, I was dripping with sweat after 15 minutes. I dried off after the 30-minute workout, changed my clothes and even put on a nylon vest.

But as soon as I started pedaling to my apartment complex's gate, the cold wind started torturing me. It didn't feel like chilly gusts were hitting my skin. The sensation was more like needle-thin icesicles plunging into every pore of my body and lodging themselves into my bones. It was unbearable.

I immediately turned back and got back on the rollers for another half hour. I felt silly as I watched the sun come up on what turned out to be a gorgeous morning. There I was on rollers when I should have been on the road.