21 November, 2008

Feels like summer to me

Dee and I got back from Canberra yesterday and I have to say it feels good to be home. I mean everyone always says, "It's good to be home" but it really feels good to be back in the tropics. Don't get me wrong- Canberra is a great city (much like Ottawa) and has some really good cycling in the capital region- both road and MTB; and the drivers are very good as well, making cycling on the city's roads a pleasure (if somewhat daunting at first). But it was cold- well cool I guess would be a better description, but when you get used to our current temps of +25C in the morning, 8C seems pretty cold and not conducive to getting an early start. And then the high for the day tops out at 22 or 23 making for a completely different experience.

And the humidity is considerably lower than here in North Queensland. Low enough to make your lips crack and nose bleed when you had to blow the pollen out of your nostrils. And yet one of the ladies attending the same conference as Dee was complaining about the heat and humidity (as in too hot and too humid- "HELLO!!") .

Getting off the plane and emerging from the airport yesterday was like stepping into a cloud of steam from a sauna- warm and moist- beautiful!!

I went for a ride this morning and when I left the house at 5:ooam, it was already 26 and the humidity was 90%. There were only 8 of us and we did a nice little circuit plus coffee for a 52km loop to start the day. No sprint, just an easy roll at about 32- 34 km/hr. It felt really good cutting through that humid air but when we came to a stop, the weather made itself very apparent. All of a sudden, that lovely cooling effect of air rushing across your arms and face comes to a complete stop and you continue to sweat buckets, but it doesn't go anywhere- it's too humid for anything to evaporate. Aah- life in the tropics!!

Ride safe
Cheers
BoaB

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