email from b.

here's a little story from bottke about yesterdays commute... enjoy. this does prove that he is still alive... barely =)

hey man,
so due to me forgetting my salsa tostadas at my parents place, i had
to give my lightweight cannondale gloves the ultimate test lsat
night. riding itself yesterday was actually pretty fun. plowing
through the snow really put me in touch with my viking roots from my
scandanavian ancestry. now on to the gloves. . .on the way to work
things were perfect as i had the wind at my back and the sun was
shining. the way home was a different story. my hands started to go
numb by the time i got out of the europa parking lot. by the time i
got on waterloo road i was clinching my teeth on my balaclava and
just trying to get home to warmth as quickly as possible. the thought
crossed my mind to call for a ride or stop for a minute but i figured
i had to face it anyways and my phone was dead. i got home threw my
bike down on the porch and went inside to have summer take my helmet
gloves and bag off. i just paced around shaking my hands for about 5
minutes trying to get the feeling to come back. slowly but surely it
did, only to make way for the pain. ouch! it was just a nagging (nay
excruciating) pain that i had to wait out. eventually i took a shower
and almost everything got back to normal at that point. notice i said
almost. as i am writing this to you 12.5 hours after the ride, i
still cannot feel the tips of my pinkie or ring finger on either
hand! i talked to my mom the nurse and she was kind of concerned but
said it should go away with time. typing feels kind of funny, and i
gotta write a 3-4 page single spaced paper today.

so thats my story. i thought it may entertain you. i also read the
new bicycling magazine at work as we had 1 customer in my 4 hour
shift, and one guy over the phone thats going to order an Equinox 7
this weekend, so i guess it was worth it. anyways, there was an
article in there about people that have been killed or severely
injured by motorists, pretty good article. it was weird reading it
right before i got off and rode home in the snow and dark and cold.
kind of like reading a horror story before going to bed haha.