Wednesday, January 25, 2017
Monday, January 23, 2017
Getting Nowhere, Fast
There were a couple of slushy inches of snow on the ground. Progress was slow, but very rewarding.
Saturday, January 21, 2017
Friday, January 6, 2017
Tuesday, January 3, 2017
First Commute in Deep Snow
Last night a storm hit and the conditions were finally perfect to find out if I'd be able to make it to work on my mountain bike in spite of the snow, ice, and cold. This was pretty much what I'd been excitedly and fearfully anticipating since I set a personal goal to keep commuting by bike as far into the Winter as my mind and body would allow. Up until now I had been gradually facing the cold and the darkness, but never a thick layer of snow.
Things weren't terribly bad in terms of what Winter can bring. But considering that the first thing I saw when I hit the road was a pickup truck being recovered from a crash against a lamppost on the side of a 25 MPH street, keeping the bike upright was going to be a challenge.
Plows were already making their rounds and traffic was slow, but what little maintenance the trails get hadn't started yet so I decided to take my chances on small roads. This would have normally been fine, but in this case the shoulders were covered with what the plows had removed from the street. There was no room to ride away from cars.
Being careful meant going slow, and a slow pace makes for little body heat. A new factor today was the maiden voyage of my Topeak EXP bag. The lack of a backpack and the slow pace started translating to numb fingers.
On top of the extra caution the uphill portions were especially difficult because traction wasn't steady and a couple of times I had no choice but to dismount and drag my bike up a hill. This made for very slow going. The silver lining was that the climbs eventually caused my core temperature to rise enough to offset the unforeseen cold.
Any given day this ride takes me 30 minutes. Today it took an hour fifteen. But I made it in one piece and without a fall.
There was no more snowfall during the day, and eventually someone did clear the trails, so aside from being on the lookout for patches of ice the ride home was straightforward. Not bad for my first January commute by bicycle. With any luck I'll be able to make it through the rest of Winter.
Things weren't terribly bad in terms of what Winter can bring. But considering that the first thing I saw when I hit the road was a pickup truck being recovered from a crash against a lamppost on the side of a 25 MPH street, keeping the bike upright was going to be a challenge.
Plows were already making their rounds and traffic was slow, but what little maintenance the trails get hadn't started yet so I decided to take my chances on small roads. This would have normally been fine, but in this case the shoulders were covered with what the plows had removed from the street. There was no room to ride away from cars.
Being careful meant going slow, and a slow pace makes for little body heat. A new factor today was the maiden voyage of my Topeak EXP bag. The lack of a backpack and the slow pace started translating to numb fingers.
On top of the extra caution the uphill portions were especially difficult because traction wasn't steady and a couple of times I had no choice but to dismount and drag my bike up a hill. This made for very slow going. The silver lining was that the climbs eventually caused my core temperature to rise enough to offset the unforeseen cold.
Any given day this ride takes me 30 minutes. Today it took an hour fifteen. But I made it in one piece and without a fall.
There was no more snowfall during the day, and eventually someone did clear the trails, so aside from being on the lookout for patches of ice the ride home was straightforward. Not bad for my first January commute by bicycle. With any luck I'll be able to make it through the rest of Winter.
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