Fortunately there were a couple of plastic bags kicking around the car.
The emergency overmitt
One of the bags was only a zippered sandwich bag. Even the other more generous bag made shifting and braking difficult. Before any tricky bits I would yank the bags off and hold them in my teeth.
I guess it's time to carry my real overmitts in the daily kit.
On Wednesday I started testing Cat Ears noise reducers. I had liked the idea when I first heard about them. As I get older I have more trouble sorting out sounds as I ride. Reducing wind noise should help me keep tabs on traffic behind me. Unfortunately, the path commute gives me little opportunity to test the Cat Ears on motor vehicle noise. I do have a better idea how noisy my tires are now.
Thursday morning the cold had really settled in, so I switched to the ear covers from Cat Ears. Combined with a polypro beanie and some tape over front helmet vents they kept my ears warmer than my thin earmuffs did. In colder weather I would probably use a heavier (but still thin) hat with some built-in ear coverage. In the coldest conditions I wear that and the earmuffs. The Cat Ears product, mounted to the helmet straps, seems to provide better protection with a little less bulk. And it's called Cat Ears.
I need to tape over more vents. My mere cool weather job isn't good enough for freezing and below.
